Despair's choice
by tomhunt98
Summary: Naruto is a Jinchuuriki, a person with a demon sealed inside them. Can he overcome the fear and hate and be the savior they don't want? Kushina must let him go for him to grow and become a god among men. semi god-like Naru AU. Naru/Saku/Kyu
1. Chapter 1: Gone and Back Again

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto or any materials about it. If I did, then I would be at the Three Forks every night. All original characters are mine, so don't use without permission. All my stories are rated M. There are adult themes in this story. Your warning if you don't want to read them is now, so don't complain about it later.

If you have a question or comment, the answer or a response to it will be posted there. As always, all reviews are welcome. Please include as much detail as possible about things you like, dislike, things I did well, and things I need to improve on.

This disclaimer is the only one and it is right up front. Don't get mad if you skip over it, it's here for everyone to read. Now that the ugly business is out of the way…

Hope you enjoy.

~tomhunt98

**Chapter 1: Gone and Back Again**

**Konoha streets**

A small child runs along the streets, sandals clacking on the paved roads. The child, no older than 5, sprints away from another drunken mob. The child slides and takes a sharp turn into an alleyway, hoping to lose them, but no luck. They chase the child for what seems like hours through streets and alleyways and even through a few stores.

The child looks behind to see how far back the mob is when his shoe catches a piece of debris on the ground and he goes face first into the hard rock. His head hits with a sharp _smack_ and instantly his nose begins to bleed. The mob catches sight of him and rush forward hoping to end the little child's life.

"There he is! Kill the demon!"

"Now we get some pay back you son of a bitch!"

"Come back here you little shit!"

The kid jumps back to his feet and runs into an alleyway, the mob right behind him.

'I just have to make it to the other side of the alley and I'm home free.'

He picks up the pace, his chest burning now, his blood on fire. Someone in the mob sprints and starts to gain ground. 30 feet till the end of the alley. The person in the mob gets closer. 20 feet, the person extends his had to grab the kid by the hair. 10 feet, the kid can feel the finger tips of the man, then…

Daylight. The kid rounds the corner and runs right for a house a few houses down the street. He sees a woman out in front of the house waiting for him and hurriedly tries to clean off the blood and dirt. He runs right up to her and puts his hands on his knees and doubles over in exhaustion.

"Hi mom."

The red head gives him a quick look over, noting all the blood and dirt on his clothes and skin. She quickly looks back to the alley where he had come from and sees a group of men withdrawing from her sharp and murderous gaze. Her eyes return to her child. She bends down so she is eye level with him.

"Naruto, what happened?" She asks sweetly, full knowing what happened but she wants to hear his side.

"Nothing. I was playing at the playground and I tripped. No big deal."

She eyes him, but doesn't say anything to him about it. The Hokage will get an earful from her later.

"Alright honey. Go and take a bath. I'll be in making dinner." She gives him a kiss on the forehead and spurs him inside.

He goes in and climbs the stairs to his room. He grabs some extra clothes and takes a bath. When he comes back down the stairs 30 minutes later, true to his mother's words, dinner was being made. His blonde hair uncharacteristically flat from the water half hiding his deep blue eyes.

"Hi mom. How was your day?"

"Oh it was fine. I did some gardening in the back, I talked to Mikoto for a while, and then I went and got some groceries. After that I waited for you to come home from playing. Tomorrow, we will have your favorite."

"Yay ramen! You make the bestest ramen ever mom; more better than Ichiraku's!" Naruto is practically bouncing in his seat at the counter. That gets a smile on her face. So full of energy and personality, it's like Minato had been reborn, looks and all. That thought of course brought a twinge of sadness to her, even after 5 years, but only a twinge.

The door bell rings and Naruto bounds out of the seat shouting that he'll get it before she can even turn around. She stops making dinner and walks to the front door when she hears Naruto shout.

"Shi-Chan!"

Kushina steps around the corner to find Naruto completely wrapped around someone's leg. Kushina's eye's wonder further up and sees a mask and grey hair that seems to defy gravity (think Cloud from FF7 minus the sword that is bigger than he is).

"Hello Kakashi. How is everything going?" she asks and with a wave of her arm, she ushers him into her house. Her husband's former student walks with ease even with the small person attached to his leg.

"Oh, everything is going fine. Just got back from a mission with my Anbu squad. I can't say too much about it, but it went well."

He looks down and sees he has Naruto's rapt attention. Kushina gives a small giggle.

"Come on Naruto. It's not polite to stare. Go wash up and dinner will be ready."

Naruto lets go of Kakashi's leg.

"Ok mom," and wanders into the bathroom. Kushina and Kakashi watch him leave.

"He reminds me so much of Minato it's scary."

"I know what you mean. He loves to hear stories about being a ninja." she says with a smile on her face. But that doesn't last long. Her face turns serious and she faces Kakashi.

"Do you know how the villagers have been treating him?" The seriousness of her voice instantly has his full attention. Being the wife of his former sensei, he knows just how much of a temper she really has.

"I hear rumors every now and then, but nothing concrete. I sure hope they are rumors because the things I hear nobody should have to go through, especially not a child." He decides to keep it honest. She likely knows anyways, no point in lying to her about it.

"Hmm, things are worse than I thought. Can you watch him tomorrow? I need to talk to the Hokage in the morning."

He shrugs. "Yeah that's fine. I have nothing else to do tomorrow," not even giving it some thought.

"Thanks and please try to be on time. I was late last time for a doctor's appointment last time." She rounds on him with a fierce look.

"Oh and if I find out you let him read that perverted sannin's work again, you will regret it. I'd rather not have to give him the talk yet." She look she is giving him freezes over hell in an instant. Kakashi nervously shifts his weight under her glare.

"And don't tell him any of your gruesome ninja stories. He had nightmares for a week."

He rubs the back of his head nervously. "Yeah sure. No problem."

Out of shear habit, he reaches down into the pouch at his waist and starts to pull something out before he realizes his mistake and hopes she doesn't realize it. Too late. Kushina catches a bit of orange before it disappeared back into the pouch.

"Kakashi, that had better not be what I think it is. Because if it is…"

"Mom what are you threatening Shi-Chan now for?" asks Naruto right beside her.

She looks from Naruto to Kakashi.

"Yes _Shi-Chan_, what am I threatening you about this time?" She asks and waits for him to answer.

Now he is really sweating. "Nothing Naruto. Your mother was just giving me some instructions for tomorrow. I'll be watching you while your mom goes to see the Hokage."

Naruto's eyes go wide in excitement. He hurriedly looks from Kushina and back to Kakashi. "Really? Really mom? Really? Really? Really?" He is vibrating from anticipation.

Kushina laughs at her son's antics. She crouches down and puts her soft hands on his shoulders making stop moving for a second.

"Yes, it's true. I have to go see the Hokage tomorrow. But Shi-Chan is staying for dinner too right?" She asks in a not-so-asking manner.

Kakashi sighs. He is trapped and there is nothing he can do about it besides break the little boy's heart. He didn't really have anything else to do, but he doesn't like being forced into something even though he would have said yes anyways.

"That's fine. I've no plans anyways."

Naruto jumps with enthusiasm.

"Come on, let's go before dinner burns."

**(Time skip - next morning)**

Kakashi appears in front of Kushina's house in a whirl of leaves.

'Great. I'm 3 hours late. Kushina's going to have my ass on a spike roasting over a pit this time.'

He opens the front door and to his surprise, he finds Kushina just getting ready to leave.

"I thought you had an appointment with the Hokage this morning?" he asks carefully.

"Oh it's not an appointment. I just show up and he usually sees me. I told you the wrong time because I knew you would be late. Naruto's already up and playing out back. Make sure he doesn't wander out into the streets because who knows what the people will do to him."

"Right. Have a nice talk."

She smiles at him and gives him a quick hug of appreciation before disappearing before his eyes. A hint of red stays briefly as an afterimage.

**Hokage Tower (few minutes later)**

The Hokage is sitting at his desk doing the accursed paper work again. His senses pick up something moving very fast. He gives a sigh and puts his hands on the piles of papers so they wouldn't go flying.

A flutter of wind and the door to the Hokage's office bursts open. The Third Hokage doesn't even look up. He resumes his work after the wind dies down. He hears the door close.

"Hello Kushina. To what do I owe the pleasure?" His eyes don't even migrate off the paper.

"I need to have a talk with you about how the village is treating my son." She strolls over and sits in the chair across from his desk, not even waiting for the Hokage to acknowledge that he has time to talk.

'She must be serious. Better not leave her disappointed.'

He pushes the stack of papers he was working on a second ago and finally looks up at her.

"Alright. What about Naruto?"

"Are you aware of how the village is treating him? Just yesterday he came home after being chased through the streets and alleyways with a bloody nose!"

"What do you want me to do? He isn't a shinobi, I can't offer him protection by Anbu since he has a living parent. There is nothing I can do about how the village treats him. The only thing I can do I've already done."

"You mean the little law banning the adults from talking about the Kyuubi? What good is that going to do him? The children of the parents may not know the specifics, they will still pick up the attitudes of their parents and it will be no different!" Her voice is starting to rise in volume.

"I'm sorry Kushina. My hands are tied. I want to do more but I can't."

"Fine if you won't do something about it then I will. I will not have my son, who is a hero, grow up in a place so rooted in hatred that they won't see the truth."

The Hokage gives her a hard stare. "Just what are you planning to do?"

She stands out of her chair and begins to pace around the room. Her voice is surprisingly calm. "We are leaving Konoha."

"And what makes you think you can just stroll out of here and not expect us to come after you?"

"Because you still value the lives of the shinobi who serve under you. Don't forget that I still am one of the highest ranking ninja in the whole village. I don't have the name of the Red Death of Konoha for kicks.

"But don't worry. We won't be leaving for good. Just for a while so my son doesn't grow up hating those around him. When I deem it is time to return, we will. He will be assigned to a Genin squad and he can choose where he wants to go from there."

The Hokage sighs again. 'This woman is definitely a pain in my old ass.'

"And what will you do about assassination attempts? You have kept Naruto's father a secret for now, but it may leak eventually."

She stops pacing and if looks could kill he would have been burned to a crisp in seconds. "Are you threatening to reveal Naruto's father?"

"No, I am simply giving you more to think about the consequences of leaving. Here in Konoha he will be safer from assassination attempts than out in an isolated part of the woods."

Kushina scoffs. "Yeah, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of the citizens decide to play assassin themselves. You said it yourself; you can't do anything to protect him from harm. While the possibility of the father being revealed exists, it will only happen if someone we trust tells someone else. And any assassin, or hunter nin for that matter, will meet a swift death by my sword."

Seeing how Kushina isn't giving him any leeway or any other options other than let her go or label her a missing nin, he chooses the former.

"Go and take you son, but on one condition. You will return and help the city in times of invasion if needed before Naruto returns."

She thinks it over for a second. It is pretty reasonable. She was expecting a deal like this, it is just something to make sure she stays close to the city. "Deal."

"Good. I will help with what I can. Supplies, weapons, building materials. I will also allow you to get into the Namikaze grounds to gather any jutsu's you wish to teach him that you don't know yourself."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage."

**(Time skip - 3 days later) Konoha Front Gates **

Kushina and Naruto stand at the front gate, heavy packs over their shoulders. Naruto turns to his mother with pleading eys.

"Do we have to go mom? I like it here."

"Yes honey. We are leaving. But we'll be back."

Naruto perks up at this. "Really?"

"Yes, but it won't be anytime soon."

Naruto's face fell. "Awwwww." He crosses his arms and lets out a puff of defiance. However one look from Kushina sets him straight. He follows his mother out of the gates and into the forest.

A few minutes of silence. "Naruto?"

"What's up mom?"

"Why do you like the city so much?" She asks with complete honesty.

He shrugs. "I just do."

"But all those people chase you and hurt you. I thought you would hate it there."

He shakes his head. "I like it because you like it. And you like it because dad liked it. So it doesn't matter what the villagers do to me. I don't hate them. I just don't understand them."

"But why didn't you tell me about the people chasing you? I would have helped you."

"But I don't know what you would have done to them mom. I've seen you angry plenty of times and I don't want to become upset over something stupid."

Kushina suppresses a tear. 'Thinking of her and not himself at his age. He really is like Minato.'

"Hey mom, why did we leave and where are we going? Does the Hokage know where we are going?"

She laughs a little. "We are leaving because I am going to train you as a ninja. I don't want other people steeling techniques and jutsu's so we are going to train away from Konoha."

Naruto's eyes become big as dinner plates and starts bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Really? I'm going to become a ninja?" She can feel the excitement coming off of him in waves. This time she laughs outright. She reaches down and ruffles his hair.

"Would I lie to you? Just so you know this training will not be easy. There will be times when you want to give up and not go on, but you must in order to become a great ninja like you father and later to become Hokage."

"You bet. I won't give up. I'll make you and dad proud of me. Believe it!" However, he has no idea what he is getting himself into.

**(Time skip, 10 years) Somewhere in the forest **

Naruto is out back of the cabin that he has called home for the past 10 years. He is doing a last bit of training before he and Kushina return to Konoha. He is "standing" upside down on a 20 ft tree limb using chakra to keep kunai on his fingers without them puncturing the skin. This also teaches you to control where your blood pools as to keep from dying or getting a headache you must circulate your blood using chakra. This is the first time he is returning to Konoha. Kushina went back a couple of times a year for weapons and new clothes for him.

Strapped his waist in the back is his katana. Just a cheap sword used to practice and make mistakes with. The balance is off, the metal is low quality, and it vibrates too much when hit which hurts his hand. On his legs, he has a pair of black Anbu pants and sleeveless dark blue shirt with a back vest. He is now taller than his mother at 5'6" and still growing. His face still has some baby fat, but not much. His hair is now down to his shoulders. He is lean from not over eating and only living off of the forest. His toned muscles clear as day for anyone to see.

All the early mornings, the running, the blood, sweat, tears, pain, and effort have paid off big time. He was ready physically and mentally years ago, but Kushina just couldn't let him go. As a result, he is now a high level Chuunin or a low level Jonin. Now she can't find any way to justify him not being ready.

"Naruto. Come in the kitchen please." He hears his mother calls out.

He grabs all the kunai and lets his chakra slip. He flips over and gracefully lands on the ground. He strolls in to the kitchen.

"Yeah mom."

Her back is turned to him when he enters the kitchen. She turns to him.

"Naruto, honey, I wanted to thank you for all your hard work the past 10 years. I know it wasn't easy and I pushed you a lot. Now you are a full shinobi, just like your father was. I have no doubt that you will become Hokage. Turn around and look in the cupboard."

He turns around and looks to the one place that he has been forbidden to access. He turns sheepishly around and looks at her for approval, which she gives immediately. He opens it and pulls out a something heavy wrapped in soft silk, obscuring all characteristics. He slowly unwraps it.

He finds a brand new katana. Not a cheap one, but a solid, high quality one. He pulls the katana out of the scabbard. The blade is very long and has a more pronounced curve than a normal katana. The blade itself is black with the sharp edges silver. On the blade is a picture carved into the blade of the red Kyuubi with the tails wrapping around the blade all the way down to the bottom of the hilt. The hilt is also black, making the red tails stick out more. "Mom…I don't know what to say." He has tears in his eyes.

Kushina gives him a big motherly hug. "Then don't say anything. I got that a few years ago when I learned your chakra type. The blade is made to channel wind chakra, extending it far farther than normal."

"Thank you mom. It is wonderful. I don't even know how to begin to thank you."

She laughs. "Don't thank me, you earned it. Put it on and let me see how it looks."

He does so very enthusiastically. He carefully puts the blade back in the sheath and hurriedly takes off his old katana and puts the new one on. The hilt just meets his hand while it is naturally hanging.

"It's perfect in size. The blade may be a little longer than I'm used to, but I'll get past it."

He gives his mother another hug in thanks.

"I guess we can test out your Akanakami (crimson blade) against my Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi (Sword of the Demon Fox)."

She gives a hearty laugh. "Nice name. Don't push your luck. You are good, but not as good as I am. I am still the Red Death for a reason."

"Ha, that was more than 10 years ago, _baa-Chan_!"

A tick mark appears on Kushina's forehead.

"What did you call me?" A dark aura surrounds Kushina. But Naruto doesn't budge.

"I called you baa-Chan, an old lady." A huge grin on his face.

In a flash, Naruto is punched through the thick timber wall and spills out into the woods. Kushina sighs.

"It's a good thing that we are moving, otherwise this would need to be repaired. I'd better go and collect my son before he goes to sleep."

She moves outside and kneels over her son who is still lying on the ground.

"Come on. I didn't hit you that hard. Get up we still have to get moving." She watches his eyes open and her grins.

"Sorry, but the princess is in another castle!"

She looks at him, confused.

"What are…"

_Poof!_

The Naruto on the ground disappears in a puff of smoke only to be replaced by a log.

Kushina growls in annoyance.

"Get down here now unless you want to carry all our belonging on your own!" she calls out.

In a flurry of wind, Naruto appears in front of his mother laughing quite hard.

"You…you fell for it! I…I didn't think it would work…" at this point he doubles over with laughter.

"Alright now. Let's get going. I want to make it before nightfall so we don't have to spend the night outside."

Naruto calms down and stands back up. "What's the matter mom? Age finally setting in?"

Naruto has to dodge another hit from his mother. More tick marks appear on her forehead. She maneuvers him around to where he is between her and the cabin and lands a kick on his chest, sending him through the open door. He rights himself and skids to a halt before slamming into a wall or something worse.

"That wasn't nice mom."

"Get going!" she snaps at him.

"Hai, Ka-san." And he disappears to pack.

**(Time skip – 5 hours) Konoha Front Gates**

Kushina and Naruto land in front of the main gates. They had been pushing a fast pace the entire time, not slowing once. Naruto is slightly winded, but not in bad shape. Kushina notices his slightly out of breathe posture.

"What's the matter Naruto, can't keep up with an old person like me?" she asks innocently.

Naruto smiles. "Ha, you can't get mad at me for calling you old now. You just admitted it."

"Damn." She didn't think he would pick up on that part. "I have to the right to get mad at anybody I choose to for whatever reason I see fit." She crosses her arms and turns away from him.

At that moment a Chuunin approaches the two.

"Excuse me Lady Uzumaki, but the Hokage is expecting you."

An evil grin passes over Kushina's face.

**(Time shift – 10 minutes later) Hokage Office**

A familiar chakra signature rushes up the stairs. Sarutobi sighs and places his hands on the stacks of paper around him. True to his senses, the door flies open and a flash of red. He finds Kushina sitting in his office chair eating an apple.

"What's going on old man?"

He sighs once more and takes his hands off of the papers.

"I thought you would have brought you son with you. Anyways I have assigned him to a Genin squad. He is to report to the 7th training field at 7am tomorrow without eating breakfast." Kushina is about to object when Hiruzen holds up a hand to stop her.

"Before you say anything that is his teacher's orders."

Just as Kushina is going to say something, another burst of wind flies through the large room. This time the Hokage didn't have time to place his hands on the papers and they scattered throughout the room. A yellow flash and Naruto joins his mother sitting in front of the desk eating an orange.

"What took you?" his mother asks him.

"Sorry, I was peeling this orange outside the window and I forgot to watch when his hands came off the papers." He gives a shrug and continues eating the orange.

"Naruto Uzumaki, it is a please to meet you after 10 years." The old Hokage says with a genuine smile.

"It's Namikaze to you." This gets Hiruzen's eyebrow to rise.

"You told him?"

Kushina just looks at Sarutobi. "Of course I did. Would you want to grow up not knowing who your father was and why he wasn't here?"

"So you told him about the Kyuubi too I see."

"Yes and that was a fun conversation."

**Flashback – 7 years ago**

_Naruto walks into the living space in the cabin, finding his mother sowing in a rocking chair. It is his 8__th__ birthday and Kushina let him sleep in. His hair is a mess and he is rubbing sleep out of his eyes._

"_Mom I had a very scary dream."_

_Kushina pauses and puts down her project and lifts Naruto so he is sitting in her lap._

"_Why don't you tell me about this very scary dream of yours."_

_Naruto nods._

"_Well, I was walking in a field with people lying on the ground all around me. They had tomato juice spread all over them and they were sleeping. A lot of them had on armor and had weapons. I got scared and started running through the field trying to find you. I got to a hill and I saw a really BIG, red fox with a lot of tails staring a huge frog with a man standing on top of its head."_

_Kushina freezes. She knows exactly what he is talking about. She may not have been there, but she heard from witnesses what happened, but she doesn't interrupt and he continues._

"_The man and the frog attack the fox and I watched for a while but then a big person with white robes came down from the sky and talked with the man. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the man on the frog held something up and the man in white took it and a big flash happened. When the light was gone, the fox was gone too and the man on the frog fell off and went to sleep too."_

_Tears stream down Kushina's face. To hear it from the Hokage is one thing. To hear it from your son who had a dream about it is something completely different. A great wave of sadness overcomes her. _

"_Then I was in a tunnel with a HUGE cage with a piece of paper written on it. I went closer to read the paper when a big, red fox jumped out and hit the bars. And then I woke up." He turns to see what his mom thinks and sees the tears._

"_Mom, why are you crying?"_

_She wipes the tears from her face and gives him a smile. "I was just thinking about your father."_

"_What was he like?"_

"_Well, he was kind, and brave, and thoughtful, and caring. He was the nicest man in the world."_

"_I wish I knew who he was."_

'_I hadn't planned on telling him this so soon, but I won't keep him guessing._

"_Naruto, do you remember all those people in Konoha who chased you around?"_

_He nods._

"_Do you know why?"_

_He shakes his head._

"_Well, the day you were born there was an attack on the town."_

"_Yeah, the Kyuuji."_

_Kushina laughs lightly. "It was the Kyuubi, the most powerful of the 9 Bijuu. It was so powerful that not even the 4__th__ Hokage could beat it. So instead he had to seal it in something."_

_She looks at him making sure he is with her. Her face becomes serious._

"_That bijuu is sealed in you."_

_At first there is no reaction. He just stares at her. She lifts up his shirt and places a hand on his stomach. She channels a bit of chakra onto his stomach and to his amazement a seal with a spiral at the center appears._

"_Whoa cool!"_

"_This is the seal that the 4__th__ Hokage used. That fox you saw in the cage is the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He will be there until the seal is broken or you die of old age."_

_She takes her hand back and lowers his shirt._

"_That seal is special. It is very powerful; so powerful that the 4__th__ Hokage had to give his life in exchange to use it. Honey, the 4__th__ Hokage is your father. Your real name is Naruto Namikaze."_

**End Flashback**

"I won't use the name Namikaze until I reach Chuunin level, so I will still go by Uzumaki."

"And I will change my name to Namikaze after my son takes the name as well."

"Sounds like a plan. Now, if you don't mind, I have to get back to work. Naruto, I already have your first mission."

Kushina smiles knowing what is coming, but Naruto run straight into it.

"Really? Do I get to fight some missing nins?"

The Hokage grunts in amusement. "No, your first mission will be to collect the papers you blew off my desk and arrange them exactly how I had them before. You have 5 minutes. Go!"

"Aw crap!"

**(Time skip – 3 hours) Kushina's house**

Naruto walks in the door after taking a stroll around the neighborhood. He smells dinner cooking and migrates to the kitchen drooling.

"I know that smell."

He enters the kitchen and his nose is correct. Kushina is making a huge amount of Ramen.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes honey."

Naruto snaps out of his daze. "I'm going to unpack for a few minutes." He turns to leave the kitchen.

"Naruto, wait. Don't unpack." She stops him mid-step.

A confused look comes over his face. "What do you mean 'don't unpack'?"

"It means just that. Don't unpack your things. You won't be staying here."

Now he is lost. "Mom, what the hell are you talking about?"

She stops working on dinner for a second. "You won't be living with me." She sees his face contort into a hurt expression. "Before you jump to conclusions, I want you to hear me out first."

He nods and she returns to the Ramen. A minute later, he plate is piled high with the savory noodles. He grabs a pair of chopsticks and digs in.

Kushina watches him eat for a few moments before eating at her normal, paced speed. About halfway through she clears her mouth and talks to her son.

"So back to you not living here. I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I would love for you to still live here."

"Then why…" he manages to make out with a mouth full of noodles.

"Naruto, what have I told you about eating with your mouth full?" A quick glare makes him chew and swallow. "Better. Now as I was saying, I would love for you to still live with me, but I think it is time for you to go and have a place of your own. I believe that you are responsible enough now that you can take care of yourself and you need to learn how to live on your own.

"I have talked to an apartment owner earlier today and have arranged for you to live there. You will pay half the rent; I will pay the other half. You will pay for you own food and laundry and any other items you may need. Now that doesn't mean you can't come over to have a meal with me, but I will not be your primary source of food.

"I want you to grow up and this is part of it. So don't feel like I'm kicking you out because I don't love you. That couldn't be further from the truth. I love you so much, but I have to let go and let you become independent."

Naruto listens to all this and simply nods. "I get it. It may be interesting, but would still rather live with you. I don't want you to get lonely. I'm the only one you have had to talk to the past 10 years."

'Always thinking of others.'

"Don't worry about me. I have friends here that I need to catch up with. And I make friends pretty fast. Once we are done with dinner, I'll take you to your apartment."

"Ok. How did you get one so fast? We haven't even been here 5 hours."

"Oh, I have my ways."

'I'm not going to tell him that the land lords at 3 different apartments wouldn't let him stay there because of the Kyuubi. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they learn that Minato is Naruto's father.'

* * *

End Chapter 1

Word count: 5,571

Chapter uploaded: 12/10/10

AN: First off, hello to all my readers. I'm going with a different format than my last stories. Using the time skip instead of the page breaks gives more detail about the timeline. I also won't be using the honorifics over and over again, it gets monotonous and too much of a mouthful(I mouth the words as I read and Naruto-kun 20 times in 3 paragraphs doesn't roll off your tongue like Moka-san (Rosario + Vampire) does). Since there seems to be a bit of confusion as to if Naruto dies if the Kyuubi dies as well. I'm going with yes. Otherwise the Kyuubi would try to hurt and kill Naruto to escape.

*Looking for a beta for this story. Let me know if you are interested.*

As always, don't forget to review!


	2. Chapter 2: A Demon in Your Living Room

**Chapter 2: A Demon in Your Living Room**

**Naruto's Apartment – 10pm**

Naruto yawns and stretches. Time to get to bed and another lesson. For a few years now, the Kyuubi has been giving Naruto lessons in how to mold and control the Bijuu chakra and how to use it in new jutsu's or use it in existing ones. As exhausted as he feels after the lesson is over, he looks forward to it.

Naruto climbs into bed. He instantly decides that he doesn't like it. It is very hard and lumpy, some springs were broken and the bed frame sinks to one side. As soon as he has the money he is going to by a new bed and a frame to match.

A soon as his eyes close Naruto feels himself being pulled into his mindscape. He opens his eyes and finds himself in front on the enormous cage of the Kyuubi. However the Kyuubi so far back that the darkness hides him.

"Hey, fuzz ball, wake up. It's time for my lesson." He kicks the cage to make his point across.

Suddenly the Kyuubi lashes out and hits the cage, hard. The impact reverberates through the metal bars and Naruto feels the vibrations in the ground. Teeth bared and snarling, the Bijuu continues the assault on the cage.

"You know for the wise fox you claim to be, you sure are stupid. You never learn that those bars will never bend, never break."

"**How dare you, you insolent brat. I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, strongest of all Bijuu! Don't you dare talk down to me like some insect!"** The Kyuubi snarls.

Naruto sighs. He does this every night and wastes 10 minutes of ranting and raving before finally being the old and wise fox that he claims to be.

"Look, cut the shit already. You don't scare me while you are behind those bars so there is no need to put on a show _every_ night."

The Kyuubi glares at him. After a few seconds his glare softens and a slow chuckle reverberates from the beast.

"**But this is really the only time I get to act like this. Any other time and you berate me for not letting you concentrate. And besides, this is how I say hello."**

"You know, I'm not usually one to comment on the way others work, but I doubt saying hello with a mouthful of teeth and a snarl that sent _my_ blood cold the first couple of times doesn't really help with your relationship with others."

"**Shut up and change the scenery already will you so I can get some exercise."**

Naruto sighs again and concentrates. The scenery changes from a sewer to an open field. The cage is gone, but from personal experience, no part of the Kyuubi can't get within 20 feet Naruto. Every time the Kyuubi tried, a piece of paper with the word "Seal" on it would smack whatever part of the Kyuubi got too close. It was hilarious to see the great fox get beat on again and again by a piece of paper.

The Kyuubi rolls his eyes.

"**Oh, I don't know. How about the same thing we do every night Blondie? Try to take over the world."**

"Ha ha. You're very funny. Now cut the shit."

"**Insolent brat. Tonight I am going to convince you to summon me."**

The Kyuubi watches as Naruto's eyebrows climb into his hairline. They go so far up that they are lost in his blonde hair.

"**Kit, you may want to grab hold of your eyebrows before they float away."**

Naruto glares at the Kyuubi.

"**Before you get your panties in a wad, I'll tell you how it will work.**

"**First off, I will still be sealed as I am tied to you through the seal your bastard of a father put on me. I can appear when you summon me. You will have to modify the seal so it lets out more of my chakra than normal. When you summon me we will still be tied through the seal, so I can't fully escape. **

"**Also, you will be able to use my chakra while I am out in your world because your coils have interacted so much with my chakra over the years that my chakra that they have mixed, making a third chakra that naturally has Bijuu chakra. It may not as vast as mine, but it's still there.**

"**Second, I will be like a regular summon. I can talk, fight, hell I can sing and dance if I wanted to. But unlike normal summons, I don't have other summons like messenger summons and the like. **

"**Also, changing the seal may have some…side effects."**

"What side effects?" Naruto asks cautiously.

"**First off, more of my chakra will naturally leak out so you won't be able to hide the fact that you're a Jinchuuriki. Also your appearance my change. I can't tell you specifically, but you may sprout tails, have permanent claws, have more of a snout than a human mouth, and so on. I don't really know the combination of the changes, but all of them can happen and none of them can happen. And just letting you know, I do not share my summoner with lower summons."**

"But what if I need to sign a contract. I'm pretty sure Jiraiya will want me to sign the toad scroll. I would like to be able to summon the same creatures my father did, something to remember him by that isn't a jutsu or looks."

"**Maybe I'll allow it IF you can convince me. And before you ask, yes I can keep you from completing the contract. I won't tell you how so you can counteract me. Oh and I wouldn't summon me too often as people will freak out."**

Naruto listens to everything the Kyuubi says. He is a bit nervous about the summons, but having the Kyuubi in battle would be a huge advantage. He ways the risks and benefits and decided the benefits way outdo the risks. The Kyuubi could be used for other purposes besides battle. Knowledge, insight, pools of chakra for others to use, ride on his back.

"Alright, but it this is a trick I will personally kick your ass and reseal you myself."

"**Great, now being the fuuinjutsu genius you are, it will take you a few weeks to perfect the seal alteration. After that you can alter other Jinchuuriki's seals too. Not all of them will have the same seal, but they all work on the same principles."**

Naruto nods and a random thought pops into his head, changing the direction of the conversation. "Hey, fox, I was wondering something. You know the advanced healing your charka gives me?"

"**Yeah, what about it?" **The Kyuubi asks suspiciously.

"I was wondering if you could turn it into a bloodline trait."

The Kyuubi rolls his eyes. **"And why would I want to do that?"**

"Can you do it?"

"**Yeah, I theoretically can. I can turn anything into a bloodline trait, but it has to be something the person housing me has. I can't give you the Byakugan or the Shiringan from someone else."**

Naruto smiles.

"Great. Can you make my reflexes, enhanced senses, and the healing factor a trait?"

"**Why do you want that? You already have 2 bloodlines from your parents."**

Naruto blinks for a second.

"Wait, I have two? I thought I only had one from dad. That's where I get my huge chakra reserves from, well that and you. But what other one did I get from my mother?"

"**You have the ability to take other's bloodline trait. You don't need me to give you those as long as you find someone with that ability. You won't pass on the traits you steal on to your offspring, just the fact that you can. They aren't as powerful as the actual bloodline, but with enough training it can be.**

"**Although if you want me too I can still do it. I'm warning you though. It will be PAINFULL! I have to rewrite your genetic code to give you those specific traits. I will have to infuse your DNA with specific chakra at points to allow you to pass it on. It will be a 50/50 chance of them having it and not having it, but it is better than nothing."**

Naruto is stunned. He had no idea that is what he could do that. All the possibilities flood his mind. He could have the Sharingan and the Byakugan and any other bloodline he wants! Looks like he is going to have plenty of material to talk to Kushina about next time.

Naruto's brain reboots and starts to work again. "Yeah, do it. It will help way down the road and I can handle pain."

**(Time skip – next morning 7am) Training field 7**

Naruto crests the hill and comes to field 7. He hadn't slept well. He hasn't slept well in a while due to the Kyuubi's lessons and the whole rewriting your genetic code thing too. It took all night and most of the morning to make the changes and he is still sore and very tired from the procedure. He hadn't been allowed to sleep from the pain and now he has to deal with it for the day.

Today he begins a new life, the life of a shinobi. His first real goal is now complete. He has his new katana strapped around his waist like normal and wearing a similar outfit to the one he traveled in yesterday. His blonde hair held in check by a leaf headband across his forehead. He got it yesterday at his apartment from his mom.

This headband was special. This was his father's. The band had been replaced but the metal plate had scratches and buff marks all over it from close calls and endless hours of training. This headband is now a symbol of his promise to surpass his dad not only in fame but in fighting ability too.

Naruto rounds the corner and spots his teammates. A white eyed boy, a brown haired girl, and a boy in a green jumpsuit with huge eye brows. They all look about the same age. He calmly walks up to them.

"Hi, I'm your new teammate."

"My name is Rock Lee and I challenge you to a fight to show you my extreme youthfulness!" He gets into a taijustu stance.

"Knock it off Lee!" The brown haired girl elbows Lee in the head.

"But Tenten I just want to show him my extreme youthfulness!"

The girl rounds on him.

"And that's the problem. Don't scare off our new teammate because you want a fight. That's all you want to do is fight with other people so don't this onetime unless Guy-sensei tells you to!"

Naruto speaks up. "Am I missing something here? I thought that Genin teams were made of 3 not 4."

"Hosh! Your are most correct!" A green blur and a man in a green Jonin vest appears in front of them. Naruto was staring at the man's face or more specifically what are above his eyes.

'Holy shit! His eye brows are bigger than Lee's!'

"**Pay attention brat, bushy brows is talking."**

"Hosh! I am Might Guy, leader of the almighty Team Guy! It is a pleasure to meet you. Now introduce yourself and tell us a little about you."

Naruto sighs. 'This guy's enthusiasm puts Lee to shame.'

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I am 15 and I didn't graduate from the Academy. I trained with my mother in the forest for a while. I love ramen, training, my mother, and my goal is to become Hokage. I don't like arrogant people, badly cooked ramen, and sitting not working to improve myself or others."

"What a youthful speech! Who is your lovely mother now?"

Naruto eyes Guy. 'He better not try to put the moves on my mother.'

"Her name is Kushina. You may know her as the Red Death of Konoha."

His team stares at him, all except the white eyed boy.

The girl's mind is going wild. 'No way! His mother is my idol. Maybe I can meet her and teach me a few things.'

"Team introduce yourselves!"

"Hai, Guy-sensei! My name is Rock Lee. I want to become the greatest Taijutsu master in the world!"

The girl speaks up next. "My name is Tenten and I want to become the strongest and most well known kunichi in the world."

Last but not least the apathetic white eyed boy. "My name is Neji Hyuuga. I don't have a goal as it is my destiny to serve the Hyuuga family in whatever fashion I'm told."

'That's a wonderful outlook on life.'

"Hosh! To answer your earlier question, it was the Hokage's choice. From what I heard from him, your main strength is combat and Team Guy is an assault group. We have been a group for about a week and our main focus is to charge right up the middle. Team Kakashi is also an assault group, Team Asuma is a support group and Team Kurenai is a tracking group. We will spar often with other groups and with each other. As for the number in the group, it is the first Genin squad with 4 members.

"Now I'm not one to lose to my lifelong rival, Kakashi, but since I already used my test on the others I cannot use it. I must use the one that Kakashi used."

Guy pulls out 3 bells. He jungles them once and ties them off to the side of his pants just below his vest.

"The object of this exercise is to get these three bells from me. If you fail to get the bells then I will eat the lunches right in front of you while you are tied to the posts. You will then get another chance to take the bells after lunch. If you fail then I will send you all back to the Academy or in your case Naruto for the first time."

"You have until noon. You had better come at me will killing intent or you will not get them. You may begin!"

At once the three younger Genins vanish. Guy is surprised to see Naruto is still standing there.

"Didn't you hear me Naruto? I said to begin."

Naruto turns to look at Guy. "Oh I heard you, but there is no point to this exercise in teamwork."

"And tell me, why is that?" Guy crosses his arms at Naruto's unyouthful attitude.

"Oh, because I already have all the bells." He holds up three silver bells.

Guy instantly looks down and sees the bells still attached to his waistline. 'Genjutsu,' he thinks. When he looks up, he sees Naruto with his katana out and slices the bells off Guy's pants and as they fall Naruto rolls and neatly collects the bells in his hand.

"I win."

Needless to say that Guy is stunned. This was a Genin, the lowest in the ranks of Ninjas. How he was able to outsmart and outdo a Jonin? Obviously he is no mere Genin in level. Kushina must have trained him extensively.

Guy sighs. "You got the point of the exercise immediately, but you didn't include your teammates. I should fail you for ignoring your teammates, but I sense that you just wanted to get this over with. I don't think that you wouldn't abandon your teammates or betray them, so I will conclude this exercise."

Guy gives a sharp whistle. Within 10 seconds all the Genin are back.

Lee is the first to ask. "What is the meaning of calling off this shining way for us to prove our youthfulness?"

Naruto shows them the bells, his katana still out. The three stand there, thunderstruck.

"How did you?" starts Tenten.

When she is cut off by Lee. "HOSH! WHAT A DISPLAY OF YOUTHFULLNESS! I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF, I WILL SHOW MY THE EXTENT OF MY EXTREME YOUTHFULLNESS!"

That's as far as he got before Tenten clobbers him over the head, silencing him before he can rupture their eardrums.

"Well, I was hoping not to waste this time, but since my plans are now completely destroyed, you have the rest of the day off. Meet here tomorrow at 9am to start training and begin our missions."

Guy uses the bodyflicker jutsu and disappears in a cloud of smoke.

"**Can I kill that bastard in the green jump suit? He is so annoying and it would make everyone's life better."**

Naruto ignores him as he sheathes his katana.

"Hey Naruto, would you like to hang out? We can show you around." Tenten offers.

Naruto shrugs. "Can't hurt. I need to learn the layout of the city better."

Neji however just walks away toward the Hyuuga compound.

"What's up with him?" Naruto asks confused.

Tenten just looks after Neji and shakes her head. "He has a stick up his ass so far it comes out his mouth. Something about you can't change your destiny and all he sees is a life of forced servitude."

Naruto looks back at Neji's retreating form and can't help but feel sorry for him.

**(Time skip – 3 weeks)**

25 D rank missions later and Naruto is lying comfortably on his new mattress and bed frame.

'Kami this feels so good! Even in the forest I never had a real bed, more like a cross between a hammock and a cot.'

"**Hey, let's go. I'm board."**

Naruto ignores the beast.

"**Hey, don't ignore me you brat! I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I will not be treated like this by the likes of a measly human!"**

"_You know, it's hard to sleep with your bull shit."_

The Kyuubi roars in fury.

"_You know, I wonder what the other Bijuu would think of the Kyuubi needing, what term did you use, oh right, a measly human to keep you entertained."_

The Kyuubi roars again and tries to bash the cage into pieces.

"**When I get out of here, I will tear you limb from limb and I will enjoy eating every last bit of you."**

"_Whatever. I just want to get a real night's sleep on my brand new, very comfortable bed."_

"**I'll teach you a new jutsu, one that can surpass the one found in the scroll."** The Kyuubi bribes.

This gets Naruto's attention. The one he found and mastered with the Kyuubi's help is an A rank jutsu. He thinks about it and decides a new jutsu will be better than getting sleep which he can do almost anytime.

"_Fine, but it better not be some kind of trick just to get me to play fetch with you."_

**(Time skip – next morning)**

Naruto wakes due to a blaring alarm. Weeks ago he figured out he had to set the alarm across the room and around a corner so his body wouldn't turn it off or send a kunai through it. He gets up and looks at the clock out of habit. 5 am.

'Damn I'm tired, but the Kyuubi was right. That jutsu was worth it.' Naruto allows himself a smile. He can't wait for a chance to actually use it. Training in his mind is much like training in the real world. He can create clones that learn and transfer knowledge to him as they dispel. The jutsu is just an expansion on one he already knew. It was relatively easy to master and get to a higher level which included demon chakra. It took the A Rank Ninjutsu to a SS Rank. It took a lot out of him, but it is his ultimate jutsu.

'Since we don't have any missions today and Guy-Sensei gave us the day off I can some time with mom and get her to answer a few questions.'

Naruto gets out of bed and makes himself some breakfast. After he finishes he gets on his training outfit and proceeds to run 6 laps around Konoha.

An hour and a half later, Naruto stumbles into his apartment about to collapse from exhaustion.

"Note to self: don't run that far after a learning a new jutsu from Kyuubi."

He makes his way to the bathroom where he sheds his clothing and steps under the scorching water. The heat has two purposes. One: to thoroughly clean him and Two: make him sleepy, not that he needed much help. Once done with the shower, he puts on a pair of orange boxers and falls on his bed. He is out before he hits the mattress.

**(Time skip – 4 hours: 10:30am)**

Naruto wakes slowly. He rolls over in his bed only to fall out of his bed and land roughly on the cold floor. Now that there isn't a chance that Naruto is going to fall asleep again, he gets up and puts some street clothes on.

He bounces lightly with each step. He has to admit, 4 hours of sleep and a hot shower do wonders for exhaustion. He grabs his katana that is mounted on a wall for easy access and takes it out of the scabbard.

He then places it on the coffee table in front of his couch and pulls out his cleaning supplies. He oils the blade, powders it, and then polishes it until he can see his reflection in the metal. The whole process takes an hour from start to finish. He takes very good care of his Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi. He doesn't want it to mold or rust which would ruin the blade.

With that done, he puts the supplies away and sheathes the sword and straps it on. He grabs his keys and wallet and leaves. A short walk later and he walks into his mother's front door.

"Ka-san?" He calls into the house. No answer.

"Hey, Ka-san, where are you?" He walks into the kitchen and looks out the back windows to see Kushina with Akanakami going through katas. A grin breaks out over his face and he opens the door and silently draws his Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi. He waits for the opportune time.

A few minutes pass as he waits. He watches her and sees the beginnings of his chance. 'Now!'

In a flash he covers the distance between the two in less than a second. As Kushina brings her sword down Naruto jumps overhead and brings his sword to bear as he descends. Kushina is so focused on her kata that she doesn't realize her situation until she sees Naruto's shadow. Her eyes flash up and brings Akanakami to an overhead block.

Naruto uses his momentum to drive Kushina back. He disengages the blades and sweeps at her legs. She jumps over his leg and takes a swipe at his midsection. As Naruto finishes the sweeping motion he feels the air currents indicating he is in trouble. Planting his sweeping foot into the ground using chakra, he pushes off of it, sending him back and out of range of Kushina's counter.

Not being one to just defend, Kushina presses Naruto. A flurry of quick strikes Naruto on the defensive. She is giving him no time to counter before attacking again. With a massive strike, Kushina clears Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi away from Naruto and plants a side kick into Naruto's side. He staggers back a few feet and holds his side tenderly.

Kushina is about to say something when Naruto launches himself at her. Stab, slice, parry, spin and slice, kick, overhead strike, parry, stab, sweep, rising slice. Each attack is gracefully blocked, parried, or countered. Naruto feigns a slice to the right before spinning the other way, knocking Akanakami away. Naruto jumps over her and placing the blade of Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi over her neck.

"Yield" he commands, a smile ever present on his face.

Kushina knows when she is beat. "I yield." She says dryly.

Naruto gives her a smile before poofing out of existence. Kushina's eyes go wide.

'A Bunshin? But now even Kagebunshin can withstand a strike.'

The real Naruto jumps off the top of the house and lands in front of her. She eyes him curiously.

"How did your clone do that? I thought that a Kage Bunshin would vanish after being hit?"

"Oh that. Well, I found out that if I infuse my Kage clones with Bijuu chakra, they become much…sturdier."

She is astounded. He had never before even hinted that he could mold the Kyuubi's chakra, much less use it in practical jutsu's.

"Let's go inside. We have a lot to talk about." Kushina doesn't like the look he is giving her.

"Ok. Go and wait in the living room. I'm going to shower. On second thought, why don't you make us some lemonade? There are fresh lemons in the fridge and a pitcher over the over. I'll be down in 20 minutes." With that she walks into the house before depositing Akanakami on the couch and walks up the stair.

Naruto sighs and walks in to the living room. He creates a clone to go and make lemonade. He picks up Akanakami and takes it out of the sheath. The blade gleams. His mom obviously takes very good care of it. True to its name, the blade is blood red. It is a bit shorter than most katana, but it also make it very maneuverable and able to get more leverage on an opponent. This blade is one of the reasons Kushina has the nickname the Red Death because the last thing an opponent sees is a flash of red from her hair and her sword.

His clone walks into the room and deposits two cups and a pitcher of fresh lemonade. With a nod, the clone dispels itself, leaving a small cloud of smoke behind. He pours himself a glass and Kushina walks back down the stairs. She has on a t-shirt and shorts that make her look 10 years younger. Her hair is three shades darker than normal as it is still wet. She sits beside the couch from him in an arm chair.

He sheaths Akanakami and then hands her a cup of lemonade.

"So…when were you going to tell me you could use the Kyuubi's chakra?" she asks.

"When were you going to tell me that I have 2 bloodline traits?" he fires back. Needless to say, she is absolutely shocked. 'How did he find out about that?'

"How did you know that?" she asks, completely flabbergasted.

He chuckles at her reaction.

"Well, I guess I have to answer your first question first for it to make sense."

Kushina nods her understanding and takes a drink.

"This is really good honey."

"Thanks. I can't say that I made it myself and I can at the same time." He says with a smile.

"You lazy ass. Using a kage clone to do the dirty work for you."

Naruto is a little surprised. Not once has he heard his mother swear. He shakes his head. That will be another conversation. Tired of beating around the preverbal bush, Naruto dives right into it.

"Well, I guess it started right after you told me about the Kyuubi. That night I fell asleep and I saw the cage again. The Kyuubi and I talked for a while after he was done trying to smash through the seal to scare me. I eventually found out that the sewer is actually my mindscape. I can go there and talk to him anytime."

Kushina stares at him with wide eyes. "You mean to tell me that not only can you see him but you actually have conversations like normal people?"

"**This would be so much easier if you would summon me. Then I could see her face to face and get a laugh at her face." **The Kyuubi chuckles darkly.

"_Not now. Maybe once I explain most things I can let you out, but not without her permission. And if you do anything to scare her or harm her besides just being there I won't let you out or take you out of that cage for a month!"_

"**Fine. Tell the wench what you want."**

"Naruto, honey, are you ok?" She asks with concern. Naruto's eyes refocus and see that she is on the edge of her seat, anxious about what is going on.

"I'm fine Ka-san. What I'm about to tell you may shock you, but don't freak out on me, ok?"

"I can't promise anything, but I will try." Kushina gives him a hard stare.

"Well, you see, I can talk to the Kyuubi without going into the mindscape. Dad made the seal so he is linked to my senses and he can hear my thoughts. That's why I spaced out a second ago. I was talking to him."

Kushina gives him a blank stare before erupting. "ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU ACTUALLY LISTEN TO HIM? ON TOP OF THAT, YOU ACT LIKE HE IS A FRIEND OF YOURS THAT HAPPENS TO LIVE INSIDE OF YOU!"

Naruto covers his ears to keep them from bursting. He looks back at Kushina. She is red in the face and breathing hard. The cup in her hands is slowly crumpling under her white knuckled clutch.

"Mom, before I get sent to the hospital, let me explain a few things. One: the Kyuubi is not a blood thirsty monster. Two: Yes he is my friend. I kind of didn't have any out in the FUCKING WOODS almost my entire life! And Three: He is actually a very good listener and gives good advice most of the time. He hasn't given me any reason to doubt him, so I won't unless he gives me a reason to!"

Kushina is taken aback. Naruto has never raised his voice to her like this before. If he is this passionate about defending the Kyuubi, then she may need to reevaluate what she thinks.

"Look, I know you are concerned. I was at first, but the Kyuubi has not shown one bit of deceit or manipulation. He even trains me at night to use his charka and infuse it with normal jutsu's. All I'm asking is that you give him a chance before you completely disregard him a demon like the rest of the village."

"**Well done, kit. I didn't think you could convince her to rethink her beliefs."**

This last sentence catches her off guard. Was she judging because she thinks she knows what he is? If that is true than she is no better than the rest of the damned village.

Naruto sees the change in his mother's face. "Would you like to meet him and see him for yourself?"

She snaps her head up. "H…How is that possible? He is supposed to be in the seal? How can be outside and still be sealed?" He hears the desperate concern for him in her voice.

"That is a little hard to explain. I had to alter the seal to allow him to come out." Seeing as Kushina is about to explode again, Naruto holds up a hand to stop her. "Don't worry. I checked and rechecked and checked the method again to make sure it wasn't a trick. He is still bound to me through the seal, but the seal now lets him out at _my_ will. I control when he goes in and out. I may not have full control over him while he is out, but he cannot kill me because that would kill him too. Since I control when he goes back in, I won't allow him to harm anyone or destroy anything. And he can't get too far away from me or the seal will kill us both as an insurance policy."

Kushina is once again stunned, this time at the level of thought that Naruto put into this. 'It looks like he went through a lot to make sure nothing wrong happened. And he is a certified genius when it comes to seals.'

"Alright, I'll meet him."

A huge grin cracks over his face. "You won't regret it. But first, I need to use a couple of privacy seals to make sure nobody comes around when the Kyuubi comes out. Kami knows we both don't need the Old Man coming down on us."

Kushina nods and Naruto spends the next few minutes setting up the privacy and chakra blocking seals. When he is done, there is a seal on the ground that will block all of the Kyuubi's chakra from getting out as long as he stays in that circle. Naruto is standing in the middle of that circle.

Naruto looks over at Kushina. "You ready?"

Kushina gives a nod and Naruto bites his thumbs and slams it on his stomach. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique)"

A surge of thick, red chakra erupts out of Naruto, but Kushina feels only a little bit of it as it leaks out of the seal. A large _POOF!_ and the Kyuubi no Kitsune sits before Kushina.

"**Ah, Uzumaki Kushina or do you prefer Namikaze?"**

Kushina shakes her head lose. She returns her eyes to the very large (3/4 the size of Naruto) red fox with nine tails sitting in the large circle on her living room floor.

"H…Hello. I'm not exactly sure how to address you." Kushina says very tentatively, not wanting to invoke the wrath of the Bijuu that is standing right in front of her.

Naruto gives a laugh. "Well you can call him fur ball if you like. That's my personal favorite." Naruto ignores the growl that the Kyuubi gives him.

"**Or you can just call me Lord Kyuubi or Kyuubi-sama." **He says with a smirk even though his mouth doesn't move.

Naruto turns and looks down on the fox. "I don't think so. You may be lord of the Bijuu and all, but that doesn't mean anything here. Right now, all you are is a summon. So cut the crap!"

Kushina is taken aback that her son is talking so brashly to a Bijuu.

"**You're no fun sometimes; you know that, right kit?"**

Kushina receives another shock to hear the Bijuu refer to him in such an affectionate way.

"You have to forgive Kyuubi, ka-chan. He likes to mess around and I have to knock him down a few pegs or nothing will get done. You can call him Kyuubi."

Kushina eyes him wearily.

"**So, Kushina-san, is there anything you wish to ask me?"**

"Why do you train Naruto? How is it that you so aware of yourself and others? I thought you were a mindless animal."

The Kyuubi chuckles. **"Well, to answer your first question, it is to repay Naruto for all the hateful stares and the beatings. I'm trying to help him achieve his goal of becoming Hokage and teaching him to control my chakra is going to help in that dream.**

"**Second, no I'm not a mindless monster. We, the Bijuu, are just like other races of animals. We are higher on the food chain do to our very long lives and our very vast chakra. Every animal is able to be sealed inside of a living being, but the 9 Bijuu are the apex of that chain. More so, I am the strongest of all the Bijuu and have lived the longest. As the strongest, I command respect and obedience from the other Bijuu when I have need for them.**

"**When it comes to your last statement, it never ceases to amaze me how ignorant humans can be. They presume to know everything about everything there is to know, and they are surprised when they get something wrong. After centuries of this, you would think humans would learn to no make assumptions."**

This is definitely not what Kushina had expected. Not a civilized, conversational, fully aware chakra being. Looks like Naruto was right about him being able to be trusted or at least not judged like he is some wild animal.

"One last question. Why did you attack Konoha? Why did my husband have to die and leave us both?" A tear streaks down her face. Naruto wants to go to her, but with the Kyuubi out, the seal he created won't let him out unless he deactivates it which would negate the point of drawing one.

The Kyuubi on the other hand looks down at the floor, his tails lying limply. **"I'm sorry Kushina-san. I'm not yet ready to talk about what happened. Just know that your husband was a great man who stopped me the only way he could. I'm sorry for forcing you to lose your husband and Naruto your father."**

The regret is full in his voice. You could feel the regret coming from the Kyuubi.

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it right now, but I would like to hear it eventually."

The Kyuubi nods. **"As for how Naruto knew about your particular Kekkei Genkai, I told him. A few weeks back. The only reason he hasn't come to talk to you before now is because he has been busy with missions. And with your reactivation into Konoha's shinobi ranks, it has been hard to talk with you much."**

Kushina nods. She had completely forgotten about Naruto's question. Naruto notices how Kyuubi left out a few details.

'Seems like old fur ball knows when to keep his mouth shut.'

"_**I heard that!"**_

A grin plasters itself on Naruto's face.

"**Well, if you don't need me anymore, I think I will go back to sleep. If you would Naruto."**

Naruto nods and dispels the summon and deactivates the chakra seal. He walks over and pulls Kushina into a hug. She doesn't protest and just lays there as her head rests on Naruto's shoulder.

"That was the weirdest experience I have ever had." She states calmly.

Naruto chuckles. "I know what you mean. Imagine my first time talking with a 2000 year old Bijuu."

Tears finally fall out of her eyes and she cries in Naruto's arms.

"I know it was tough on you to hear about dad. But I don't Kyuubi attacked Konoha on his own will. He doesn't harbor any hatred toward the village or the people and he is willing to help me out."

Kushina shakes her head. "It's not Minato I'm crying for. It's you. I knew you were having trouble with the villagers, but they actually _beat_ you and hurt you. I never saw any bruises or cuts on you. The only indication was the dirt and blood on your clothes.

"I don't want to think how my life would be without you. It's bad enough that Minato is gone, but that was his choice to go and protect the village. You never had that option. I'm sorry if you hate us, Naruto, but I will understand if you do." She tries to pull away from him, but he holds her tighter.

"I could never hate you or dad. He didn't do it because he wanted to see me suffer or to see what would happen. He did it to save thousands of lives. If anything, I want to be like him. To be able to make the choice to give my life for what I believe in. And you never turned your back on me. Not once did you hate me for being a Jinchuuriki or having the reason dad died inside of me the whole time, staring at you. You could have hated me along with everyone else, but you didn't. I could never be mad or angry at you for that."

She feels more tears fall from her eyes, but these are happy tears. Tears that she couldn't hold back when one of her deepest fears have just been laid to rest. She just lies on his shoulder, enjoying the feeling of having her son alive and full of love and compassion.

"So, why didn't you tell me about this particular ability of mine?"

Kushina sits up to look at him fully. "I didn't tell you because I wanted you to be safe and I didn't want you to be power hungry. Other clans would try to recruit you and use that to their advantage."

"So you didn't want me becoming so power hungry shinobi bent on collecting Kekkei Genkai?"

Kushina nods her head. "That and I didn't want you to become a baby factory for some clan eager to expand its powerbase."

Naruto nods his understanding. She was trying to protect him and make sure he doesn't become some monster willing to go to any lengths to obtain power.

"Well, this has been an interesting conversation, hasn't it?"

Kushina laughs. "That's the understatement of the decade."

"Hey mom, please don't tell anybody about the Kyuubi being able to be summoned. I want to talk to the Old Man before I get in trouble for using it in battle."

She nods her head. "We hardly touched the lemonade. You know, I feel like having ramen. What do you say? On me at Ichiruka's?" She gives him a smile.

Naruto stares at her in disbelief. "Do you even have to ask? His ramen is second only to yours!"

She laughs at his complement. "I thought so. Come on, I'm hungry from all that talking."

* * *

End Chapter 2

Word Count: 6,897

Total Word count: 12,468

Date released: 12/22/10

AN: I rewrote the last half of this chapter so many times. First I had Tenten go with Naruto for lunch after the first team meeting and then meet with Kushina for lunch. Didn't like that idea. Then I changed it to Naruto going over on his day off. I rewrote that conversation several times as well. I wanted it to make sense and get a lot of the explaining to out of the way. I don't know if I got Guy and Lee's characters right. I know that they spout things about youthfulness and making odd conditions to bets, but that's really as far as I get. Need to know how I did on them so I can get it right in later chapters.

I am making this a harem story. I have already decided on the pairs which I will release later (I have something specific in mind).

***Still looking for a Beta. Let me know if you are interested!***

Need More Reviews! More than 200 people have viewed this chapter and no reviews have been posted. I really need to know if things make sense and if things need to be explained or changed around.


	3. Chapter 3: Propositions

A/N: Sorry to those who expect to see Sakura. Yes she will be in the story, but not for a little while. All will be explained next chapter in Author's comments.

To BallSabre: I always write my stories in present tense. I always feel like i miss something when everyone does it in past tense. Besides, it is another way to distinguish my stories for others. Thanks for the input though. Also, Naruto is 15. I'm making it so that he was born 4 years earlier than the rest of the rookies and 3 older than his teammates. I don't do lemons for kids and that's what 11 and 12 year olds are. Naruto is a special case with Konoha because Kushina wasn't asking for permission to leave. She was going to if she had permission or not. Sarutobi just made a condition to keep her close so she doesn't run away with Naruto.

To cmcwiki: I agree, but i think of her being a master of many things. Ninjutsu and kenjustu are two of many. I just chose to focus more on the kenjutsu side of it. Also the way i set up the bloodlines, the Namikaze side would provide more ninjutsu since his side has the extra chakra from the bloodline.

Before someone flames about "old enough to kill is old enough to have sex" I have something to say. While their minds may mature faster than normal, their bodies still progress at the normal rates. Meaning that boys don't hit puberty until 11 or 12 and girls a year or two before that. They physically aren't ready for sex.

So... on with the story!

**Chapter 3: Propositions**

**Naruto's Apartment-8pm**

Naruto walks in the door feeling more emotionally drained in a long time. He doesn't like seeing his mom cry, but not to be able to go to her, that was worse. He takes off his katana and hangs it on the wall and gets undressed.

His mother wasn't the only stressful thing that happened today. He ran across Lee and Tenten on their way to Ichiraku's. After Tenten finished literally glowing (her face lit up like a multi-colored Christmas tree) with admiration they joined Naruto and Kushina for some ramen. He didn't even get to say goodbye to his mom before being literally dragged off by Lee by his collar.

The next part he would rather forget most. He had met with the "Rookie 9" as they call them. Kami knows he wanted so badly to give into the Kyuubi's wishes and just kill most of them at one point.

**(Flashback – 1pm) Yamanaka Household**

_Naruto notices that he isn't being dragged anymore. He looks up and sees that they have stopped outside a flower shop._

"_Great, now my allergies will start to act up." He hopes his captors will take the bait. No luck as they completely ignore him._

"_**You don't have any allergies. And you're welcome." **__Kyuubi says with a grin (or as much as a fox can grin)._

'_Damn you. You're no help! For once, bet off you lazy ass and help me think of a way out of this!' he furiously thinks at Kyuubi._

_Lee lets him go and Naruto seriously considers bolting away before a girl comes out of the shop._

"_Hello Tenten, Lee. Who is this?" She asks. Naruto looks up at her from the floor as he has yet to get up._

_She has long, straight blonde hair tied in a high pony tail and has purple all over her. She has a Konoha Hitai-ate (forehead protector) over her stomach and green eyes _(In the manga they are green, not that you can tell since it is in black and white)_. _

"_Ino, meet Naruto Uzumaki, our new teammate. He has been with us for some weeks, but he is kind of anti-social. We found him about to have lunch with his mother." Tenten informs her. Then Tenten remembers something and squeals._

"_OOOHHH Ino, do you know who I met today?" Tenten asks excitedly._

_Ino shakes her head apathetically. Naruto just rolls his eyes. He knows where this is going._

"_I met the Red Death of Konoha!"_

_Ino's eyes go wide. "You didn't?" Ino exclaims. The Red Death is easily one of the most powerful and well known kunoichi in the ninja world. She is as famous as Tsunade, the Slug Sannin. _

_Tenten only nods her head. _

"_How did you meet her? Was she nice? Was she wearing armor and tons of weapons? Did you see her fight?" Ino bombards Tenten with questions._

_Tenten just laughs. "Come on, I'll tell you inside."_

_Ino squeals in excitement and jumps aside to ushers them in. Naruto really doesn't want to go, but now he is trapped. He knows that they will look for him and his mother will beat his ass for being impolite._

_Hesitantly, Naruto follows Tenten in. _

_Once inside he finds a very open living room. It is easily the largest living room he has seen. _

_Tenten and Lee walk in and are greeted with a Fonzie-like "Ey!" from most people. He follows them into the living room and the room stops. Totally silent. All of the Genin stop where they are, mid-stride and mid-sentence. All pairs of eyes are on Naruto. Tenten follows Ino into the kitchen, leaving him with Lee._

_Feeling uncomfortable, he rubs the back of his head. "Um… hi. I'm Tenten and Lee's teammate."_

"_Wait, you have 4 Genin members now?" a male with red upside down triangle on his face with a white dog on his head almost shouts._

"_Yeah, he joined a few weeks ago." Tenten says with a mouthful of crackers as she comes out of the kitchen with Ino in tow._

_He shrugs. "Must have graduated late then. Not everyone is good enough to graduate on time."_

"_Actually, I didn't go to the Academy." Naruto says as he finds a seat on a stool._

_Most people do a double take. "How is that possible? Everyone who is a Genin has to go through the Academy to be certified to be a Genin." The boy with the white dog says. _

_Naruto sighs. "Look why don't I tell you my name and you guys tell me yours so I know what to call you besides loud mouth." That gets a laugh from most people but the boy is glaring at Naruto. The rest snicker at the nickname. _

"_I'll start off. My name is Naruto Uzumaki."_

_The room sounds off. Naruto catalogs each name with a face or whatever is covering the face in Shino's case. _

"_Good and to answer your question I… who is the guy in the back?"_

_Everyone looks to the back of the room and sitting in the corner is a boy with black hair and lose clothing. _

"_Oh him, that's the rookie of the year, Uchiha Sasuke-kun." Ino says with a rapt voice and stars in her eyes._

'_I don't see what's so great about him. Kyuubi are you growling?'_

"_**Kill him! He is a damn Uchiha! You better let me loose right now so I can rip his throat out!"**_

'_What the hell? I'm not letting you out. Not only do these guy not know about you buy your going to kill someone neither you nor I know.'_

"_**I don't care! He is an Uchiha and that's all the reason I need!"**__ Kyuubi smashes himself against the cage again and again in a vain attempt to break loose._

_Naruto cuts the connection between them. He can't talk to Kyuubi while he is in a blind rage like that. _

"_So, rookie of the year, eh. I don't care. Anyways, to answer your question…"_

"_And what makes you so great?" Sasuke finally speaks up._

"_What?" Naruto asks, confused._

"_I asked you what makes you so great that me, the great rookie of the year, doesn't mean anything!" Sasuke gets up from the chair, glaring._

_Naruto shrugs and turns back to Kiba. "Anyways, I had extenuating circumstances and I trained with my ka-chan in the forest for 10 years."_

"_Heh, your ka-san must be a terrible teacher because there is no way you can beat me."_

_Before anyone can even move, Naruto is behind Sasuke, Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi drawn and up against Sasuke's jugular. Everyone, including Sasuke, have wide eyes. They have never seen anyone mover that fast._

"_I don't care if you insult me, but my ka-chan is off limits."_

_Sasuke smirks. "She must be worse than I thought to have a dobe like you come to her defense."_

"_Kushina is not weak!" Tenten shouts, coming to her defense as well._

_Everyone looks at her. "His mother is Kushina, the Red Death of Konoha!" No explanation is necessary as everyone understands. _

_A collective intake of breath is drawn from everyone. Even Sasuke has wide eyes. _

"_That's right. I am Naruto Uzumaki, sochi (son) of Kushina Uzumaki. Insult her again and you won't be conscious enough to regret it!"_

_That's when Shikamaru sees the design on the katana. _

"_Hey, Naruto, when you are done making the number one rookie piss his pants, can I see that katana?"_

_Naruto pulls it a fraction of an inch closer to Sasuke's neck, just enough to make his threat felt. The then slowly pulls Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi away from Sasuke's throat. Once the blade is clear, Sasuke storms out of the house, not saying anything to anybody. _

'_Geeze, I just met him and want to kick his arrogant ass!'_

"_**I'll help you in that department as long as I get to eat him afterwards."**__Naruto is slightly surprised to hear the Kyuubi so calm after his rant earlier._

'_I thought you didn't like human flesh. Too stringy and tough in some places.'_

"_**Your right, I don't like human flesh all that much, but I'm willing to make an exception."**_

_Naruto shakes his head clear. He remembers that Shikamaru wanted to see his blade._

_He walks over to Shikamaru. He carefully hands it to him._

"_Here. I call it the Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi. It was a gift from my ka-chan right before we came back here a few weeks ago."_

'_Majorly troublesome! Between this blade and what I have heard from my father, that confirms it. He houses the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He could be a little more subtle about it. Sword of the Demon Fox? It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.'_

"_It is a beautiful sword. It suits you." He says as lethargically hands the blade back to Naruto, who gives him a hard look, trying to find out by what he meant by it suits him. _

_Shikamaru gives him a quick wink. 'So he does know. Why isn't he telling everyone about it?'_

_Just then, Ino walks into the room after following Sasuke out, trying to get him to stay. _

"_Thanks Uzumaki, you made Sasuke-kun leave. Do you know how hard it was to get him to come here?" She yells at him at near banshee levels. Naruto hears a feint "troublesome" from Shikamaru._

_Un-phased Naruto just looks at her."Look, I'm sorry I made you boy crush leave, but he had it coming. Nobody insults my Ka-chan and gets away with it. She is my only parent and only relative. I'll do anything to protect her, even her honor when she isn't here. You're a kunoichi who should know that my mother deserves the respect that she has earned!" _

_Ino doesn't know what to say. Never before has someone her age completely overpowered and destroyed her opinion of Sasuke, even if it for this once. Even she has to admit that he was an ass and deserved what he got._

_She lowers her face to the ground. "I guess."_

_Silence fills the room. "So, Naruto, tell us about yourself." Shino says from the back._

"_Ok. The Hokage allowed my mother and me to live a few hours from here in the forest. I know kenjutsu, several A rank and two S-Rank ninjutsu, I have really good chakra control, I am terrible at Genjutsu, but I can detect and dispel them easily, I love Fuuinjutsu, I have a huge amount of chakra, courtesy of a my father, and I want to become Hokage, but I doubt that will happen."_

_Once again the room is in silence. _

"_Can we see an S-Rank ninjutsu?" asks Kiba._

_Naruto shakes his head. "I don' think that is a good idea. They are way too powerful to be used in the city and maybe even at a practice field."_

"_Ha, I knew it. Your bluffing!"_

_A eyebrow twitches. "Really you think I'm bluffing?"_

_Naruto holds out his right hand and a small blue ball begins to form. Everyone watches in amazement as the ball swirls and expands. _

'_Holy shit! That is pure chakra in his hand!' thinks Ino._

_After a few seconds Naruto lets the chakra diffuse. _

"_That is an A rank jutsu made by the __Yondaime Hokage himself. Although he never finished it, I have."_

_Everyone's mouth drops open. _

"_How…how did you learn that?" asks Hinata, speaking up for the first time since roll call._

"_Didn't you know that my mother was a personal friend to the Yondaime Hokage? He was the last of his clan so in his Will he gave the scroll to my mom. Most are still stored at the Namikaze compound to keep them from being stolen, but I have access to them."_

"_Can I learn that?" shouts Kiba in an asking kind of way. _

_Naruto just looks at him. "No, sorry, but I have to keep those jutsu's to myself. I may teach them to my kids, but not to anyone else minus who I marry."_

_A disappointed look comes over Kiba's face._

"_You know how these things work Kiba. A clan's jutsu stays in the family no matter how much a friend my want to learn it." Choji speaks up now that his bag of chips is empty._

"_**You could kill them all and get these ignorant individuals out of both our hair."**_

'_I'm ignoring you. Besides, not all of them are bad. Shikamaru figured out that you are inside me and he is keeping his mouth shut.'_

_Naruto spends the rest of the time mingling with the others. He mostly talks with Shino and Shikamaru. Although he wanted to go talk to the two purple haired girls in the corner who watched him the entire time, he couldn't get away long enough to do so._

**(End Flashback)**

It was nice to talk to other people that isn't his mom and doesn't have a thing about destiny or extreme youthfulness. Shikamaru is an enigma to him. He knows about the Kyuubi and doesn't hate him. In fact, he seems to enjoy Naruto's company. He treats him like everyone else. None of the adults but his mother, the Hokage, and Kushina's friends treats him like that.

He deactivates the seal he placed on his lower back. With a grunt, out sprouts 9 long tails that reach above his head come. The tails come out of the exact spot the seal is placed. But these tails are not red like the Kyuubi's. They are the same shade of blonde as his hair with snow cap tips.

"I never get used to that."

A week after the Kyuubi informed him of how to alter the seal, Naruto proceeded. Aside from the tails, the only real difference is Naruto like his meat rare. The forming of the tails was very painful. They had to grow bones and nerve endings in a matter of minutes and that was no walk in the park. It took him a little while to be able to use his tails fluently. Every night he comes home and practices using his tails to grab things, open things, even putting on his clothes with them. The hardest thing however, was learning to sleep with them.

He came up with the seal before he altered the Kyuubi's seal to suppress the extra amounts of Bijuu chakra. It also has the added benefit of making the tails recede. He had also hid chakra blocking seals all over the apartment so the Hokage and dozens of Anbu don't descend on him every time he deactivates the seal.

He doesn't want to keep hiding his tails, but the only people to know of his "companion" are the adults. Even further, most of them will use this against him and be convinced that he really is a demon. Even his mother and the Old Man will freak out about this transformation and the Old Man doesn't even know that the Kyuubi can talk!

Naruto sighs at his predicament, but promises himself that he will tell the important people to him soon. He lies down on his bed and instantly starts to fall asleep. He pulls himself into his mindscape. Before he knows it, he is sitting in front of the Kyuubi.

"Alright, why did you completely lose it today?"

"**Shut up brat. I owe you nothing."**

Naruto doesn't back down.

"You will tell me because I will not let you out again. I don't care if I'm dying, I will not let you out because I cannot trust you to not go on a rampage!" Naruto shouts.

"**How dare you speak to the me this way! You are nothing but a lowly human and I am the immortal Kyuubi! I have destroyed cities with a flick of my tails. I have destroyed nations because I was board. I will NOT be questioned by a human who is hundreds of years younger than me!"**

The Kyuubi roars so loudly and ferociously that the walls shake and Naruto has to activate chakra in his feet so his isn't blown away by the force of the Kyuubi's words.

Naruto kicks the cage. "Get over yourself already! You will tell me why you are so afraid of the Uchiha that you would lose control like that!"

"**Afraid? And what makes you think I am afraid of the Uchiha? Of that Gaki (brat)?"**

"Oh, I didn't say the teme, (bastard) I said the Uchiha! And I meant them as a clan. You must fear them very badly if you don't want a child like him to grow up. I can see that you hate them with a fury that I can't even begin to understand. I can help you, but first you have to let me in. I want to help you, so let me."

The Kyuubi takes a deep breath and calms down.

"**Look, kit, I admire your curiosity and willingness to help, but I am not ready to tell you or anyone yet. Just let me be."**

The Kyuubi's voice becomes soft as a gentle breeze and Naruto hears a flurry of emotions. Sorrow, despair, agony. So many emotions it is impossible for Naruto to get even half of them. It is obvious the Kyuubi has suffered greatly.

The Kyuubi turns around and slowly pads back into the dark recesses of the cage. Naruto can't help but feel sorry for Kyuubi. The great Lord of the Bijuu reduced to a broken, discarded shadow of his prideful self.

**(Time skip – 3 days)**

Naruto wakes at his normal time. He pushes himself out of bed. He feels very refreshed. Every since his talk with Kyuubi, they haven't had a training session once. This of course allows Naruto to get a full night's sleep without having his brain work in overtime. But he is still very worried about Kyuubi.

Naruto goes through his normal routine. He gets up at 5am, eats a short breakfast, runs around Konoha, meditates, works on katas while slowly increasing his chakra weights and gravity seal. At the end he is up to 40lbs on each arm right above his wrists, 80lbs on each leg right above his ankles and 120lbs around his torso. Add to that a gravity of 2x the normal pull of gravity, his advanced healing which allows his to instantly repair his tearing muscles while training allows him to improve his strength and endurance vastly in a relatively very short amount of time.

After the katas around 7:30am, he comes back and takes a shower and relaxes for a half hour before going off and training with the Kyuubi. Around noon, he joins his teammates for training, though he doesn't get near the amount of workout his teammates do. His taijutsu has improved as well as his stamina. After a few hours of training, they go off for D-rank missions.

On this particular day, the mission of retrieving the Daimyo's wife's cat…again drew the team towards the main gates. They pounce as the cat tries to make a getaway and slip out into the forest. Just as they retrieve the cat, Team 7 walks into view. With them, Kakashi carries an unconscious woman over his shoulder.

Naruto waves to the grey haired Jonin and walks over to him. As he walks over, he sees a very smug Sasuke.

"Hey Shi-chan, how was your mission?"

Sasuke snorts. "What dobe? Can't help but feel jealous that our mission turned into an A-rank and we kicked ass?"

Naruto raises an eyebrow at him before returning his gaze to Kakashi who is rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment of Sasuke's ego.

"Yeah, we had a little bit of a problem with our mission. Momochi Zabuza was paid to kill our client and I ended up killing him." Guy's eyes bug out as big as his eyebrows. He beings ranting about his eternal rival, but that's as far as Naruto listened.

"Yeah and I kicked his little hunter-nin's ass!" Sasuke says with a triumphant smirk.

"Sasuke, you only won because of Sai. She had you on the ropes if Sai hadn't destroyed her mirrors and knocked her out. If it weren't for him, you would probably be dead by now."

Sasuke broiled at his statement. "I would have won even without Sai's interference!"

Naruto smirked at Sasuke's reaction. "Whatever you say teme (bastard)." He turns to Kakashi.

"Is that her?" He says motioning to the unconscious woman on Kakashi's shoulder, completely ignoring Sasuke's Sharingan stare.

'So he activated them? That will only serve to boost his already inflated ego.'

"Yeah. She doesn't have anywhere else to go so I brought her here in hopes that she can find a way to have a normal life."

"Well, if she needs a place to stay, I'm sure Ka-chan wouldn't mind letting her stay for a while. She is on a mission right now. She should be back in a few days so if nowhere else, tell the Old Man she can stay at my place until Ka-chan gets back."

Kakashi nods and is preparing to go walk past Naruto but Sasuke has other ideas.

"Weakling women belong with each other."

Faster than anyone can follow except the two Jonin who were either too far away or weighed down to stop him. Naruto appears beside Sasuke who jumps back after registering that Naruto was indeed in his face. He feels something dribble down his cheek and wipes at it. His hand comes away bloody.

"How dare you make me bleed? Do you know how precious my blood is?" Sasuke shouts.

Naruto licks the blood off of the nail that had scratched his cheek. "I told you once and I will NOT tell you again. Insult me all you want, I don't give a fuck. But insult my Ka-chan again and you will be in the hospital for WEEKS! Do I make myself clear?"

Kakashi grabs Naruto's arm and wheels him around. He looks to the finger that scratched Sasuke's face and doesn't see any blood on the finger.

"Did you just do what I think you did?" His voice is deadly serious.

"What? It's not like he didn't deserve it and it will be payback later if he doesn't heed my warning." Naruto fires back slightly glaring.

Kakashi's eyes glower. "Your mother will hear of this as will the Sandaime. And never again threaten a fellow Shinobi. Do I make myself clear?"

Knowing that there is no point in arguing, he just nods his head.

Kakashi walks off without another word and his Genin follow him, Sasuke glaring and holding his cheek.

Guy walks up to Naruto, clearly not happy with Naruto's actions.

"That was very un-youthful Naruto. I get your protective of your mother but that is no reason to attack a fellow Shinobi. Ninja must be level headed at all times."

Naruto faces Guy.

"I didn't lose my cool. I meant to do that for more than one reason. One being that I told him before not to insult her and he didn't heed my warning so more drastic measures needed to be taken to insure that he would not do so again. And now I have ensured his destruction if he ever does it again.

"Before you go off and tell me not to the only way to make a donkey leave a habit is to break it of the habit with punishment. The only punishment a donkey of that stubbornness is to physically beat down that stubbornness and arrogance. The Uchiha is nothing but egotistical bastards that the entire village has helped create by treating like royalty. I will not tolerate that attitude when he is around me."

Guy is speechless by Naruto's outburst. That doesn't compare to the looks that his teammates have on their faces. Luckily Tenten has an iron grasp on their target or it would have gotten away again.

"Come on, let's turn in the mission." Naruto starts to walk off towards the Hokage Tower. His movement snaps the other out of their stupor and follows him.

**Hokage Tower**

Guy walks in the door and his Genin follow. Tenten hurriedly hands the devil cat to a leery Chuunin who holds the cat as far away from him body as he can before handing it to a very large woman. The woman squeals in delight and leave the room after paying the Chuunin sitting next to the Hokage.

"Ah, Team Guy. I have a mission for you."

He hands Guy a slip.

"It is a C-Rank mission. You are to escort the Fire Daimyo's granddaughter to the Capital. This will be a weeklong mission. Bandits are expected, but shouldn't present a challenge for your team. Her name is Shibasaki Natsumi. She is going back to the Capital from meeting a potential husband. Her guard was recalled so we are providing security for the convoy."

Guy turns to his team.

"HOSH! Use your youthfulness and meet at the gates in 1 hour!"

**(Time skip -2 days)**

Team Guy arrives at town the Daimyo's granddaughter is in. Only the village is currently in flames. Guy turns to his students.

"Make your way into the town and find the target. Protect her with your life. If you find her flare your chakra so we can find you. Rules of engagement are no civilian casualties and keep the collateral to a minimum. Move out!"

The team splits up and engages the enemy. Naruto runs into the center of the town and looks around. Buildings are a flame, scorched and bludgeoned bodies of men, women, and children lay strewn across the ground. A tear falls down his face at the sight.

He hears a scream to his left and takes off after it. He sees 3 men in shinobi armor restraining a young woman. She had bleach blonde hair and jade eyes, her face a mash of bruises and blood. Her clothing is torn, revealing her breasts which one shinobi is currently is molesting and her skirt is torn and almost non-existent and wearing no panties, but from the bruising it is clear that they were ripped off her. A malicious grin forms on all of the men as one starts to undo his pants.

"You're going to love this!" The woman gives another scream and gets backhanded across the face.

He doesn't draw another breath. Naruto's Tenma Kitsune (I don't want to have to spell it out all the time so I am giving it a nickname) is sticking out of the man's chest and slumps to the ground, dead. Naruto's eyes are red slits and have a red aura around him. Not even giving them a chance to run, he shunshins behind them and cuts both of their Achilles tendon, rendering them both unable to run.

Naruto quickly slices open one shinobi's wrists and stabs both his thighs and pierces both arteries. His friend watches as his friend dies a very painful death as he bleeds out. He looks back to Naruto who has a sadistic grin on his face.

"You motherfuckers chose the wrong village to attack!"

He moves and lifts the man up and uses a couple of kunai to pin the man to the walls through his arms. Using Tenma Kitsune he stabs each shoulder and forces them out of their sockets. He does the same for the man's legs at both the knee and the hip joint.

By now the man is almost passed out from the pain and his throat is dry and cracked from the screaming. Before the man loses consciousness, he rips the man's pants off and cuts off his penis and testicles and implants them in the wall next to his face. The sight of his own dick and balls next to him makes him pass out.

Being a little merciful, Naruto then slices the man's jugular and the last of his blood seeps out.

The whole time, the woman just stares at her savior in horror as he tortures and kills her attackers. When Naruto turns back to her, his eyes are once again piercing blue. He cleans the blood off Tenma Kitsune and sheathes it. He slowly walks toward her with his hands outstretched to show her he has no intention to hurt her.

As he approaches, she tries to back as far away as she can, but finds herself in a corner. Naruto sees this and stops. He takes off his shirt and tosses it to her.

"Here, use my shirt. I have extra's so you can keep it. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. No one will hurt you again but I need you to stay here. I'm going to go but I will leave a friend here to keep you safe."

He bits his thumb and performs the necessary seals and puts his hand on his stomach.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke and a very large red fox with 9 tails appears in front of the frightened woman.

"**What do you want? I was having a very nice nap."** The girl starts. The fox just talked.

Naruto ignores the comment. "I need you to look after her until I get back." He points to the girl 10 feet away.

Kyuubi looks and sees the state of the girl who is holding onto Naruto's shirt with a death grip. He looks from the girl to the man plastered to the wall to the appendage next to the body and back to Naruto.

"**And people say that I'm a sadist. Geeze kit, I didn't think you had it in you."**

Naruto rolls his eyes. "Look, will you look after her or not? Because if not then you go back into the seal. I have a mission to complete."

He weighs his options. Stay in the real world and babysit or back to the sewer to sleep. He chooses the former.

"**Alright. You're such a pain in my ass." **The Kyuubi approaches the girl who slightly recoils.

"**Do not fear me. I'm here to watch over you and protect you from harm until my partner gets back."**

Naruto sees the girl very hesitantly reach out and gently stroke his fur.

'**This is the only time I will allow a human to pet me like some common dog.'**

"_Your such a softy."_ Naruto thinks to Kyuubi, earning a glare that can set fire to a block of ice.

He decided that she is going to be fine and takes off further into the village.

After 5 minutes of searching, he stumbles across the enemy leader. He is in a ring of 15 men as they move through the village. He is a large, heavy-set man. He is wearing a dark yellow, sleeveless shirt and dark blue shorts that looks like they were once pants. On his right arm he wears an Iwa headband.

At the moment they are stopped. At his feet is a woman about his height and has red hair. She has a tiara in her hair and is wearing dirt, but intact expensive clothing. She is tied and gagged and is struggling against her restraints. One of the shinobi approaches her, only to be smacked away.

"Fool, she is not to be touched! She is more valuable to us intact." The man's voice could turn a lake to ice.

Naruto thinks for a moment. He can't flare his chakra or he will be detected and hunted down. So he goes for something else.

Naruto jumps into the ring of men, a few feet away from the leader. They all look at him like he is crazy.

"A Konoha Nin eh? This might be fun," one says.

"Looks like Konoha decided to show up. Leave or the girl dies." The leader says coldly.

Naruto just stares at him before shifting his gaze to the girl.

"You are Shibasaki Natsumi, correct?"

She nods her head before being picked up by her neck.

"Leave now or she WILL die!"

Naruto shakes his head. "I don't think you're going to kill your meal ticket. Right now, she is the only thing keeping you alive, so if you kill her, you all are dead."

The leader just laughs. "You got spunk kid, I'll give you that. The name's Fibiki (Fee-bee-kee). Now scram or you won't walk out of here alive."

Naruto draws Tenma Kitsune and rushes one of the men, who is sliced almost in half. He moves onto the second man. By now the circle has collapsed and all 15, well 14, now rush Naruto. Naruto throws down a couple of smoke bombs.

The entire are is obscured. Fibiki is looking around; his field of vision is slightly greater than his men as he is at the edge of the cloud. The cloud disperses and he sees Naruto surrounded by his men, swords pushed up against his neck and torso. Fibiki laughs.

"I like you. You have some balls but when your equipment doesn't match the size of your balls, you get into trouble. Deal with him." He gives a dismissive wave and almost turns around. Something isn't right. Naruto is grinning.

"What's so funny? Your life must be pretty pathetic to be glad for it to be over."

Naruto just laughs. "Jokes on you."

_POOF!_

Naruto bursts into smoke.

'A clone?'

"Ha, very clever. But now you are going to pay. We don't need her to live, but it would have been a nice bonus. Say goodbye to your girl friend."

He reaches down to pick up Natsumi and lifts her up by her neck again and chokes her. She struggles for a few seconds before smiling.

"I told you. The jokes on you."

_POOF!_

The clone bursts into smoke.

Fibiki is dumbfounded. How the fuck did he pull that off? She was right by his side the whole time. He hears something behind him and sees massive red fox standing beside Naruto, who is holding Natsumi bridal style. He also has the Iwa halite-ate from Fibiki in his hand.

"Boss says you can have them." Naruto says before he shunshins away.

Fibiki turns his gaze to the fox. A massive amount of Killing Intent (KI) floods the area, making most of his men fall to their knees. The Fox give a feral grin and launches himself at the group.

They never stood a chance.

**Village Square**

Guy, Tenten, Lee, and Neji stand in the middle of the Village square. They had yet to find any trace of Natsumi Shibasaki. Guy is about to call it quits when Naruto shunshins into the square hold said girl. He hands her to Tenten and gives the Haiti-ate to Guy.

"Here, Boss said he will be with you in a minute." The clone informs them before poofing out of existence.

The team looks confused. They undo Natsumi's ties and sit her down. A few minutes later, the real Naruto joins them, a girl in tow. They all stare at his shirtless self to Mibi who has said shirt on and a pair of Naruto's pants.

"Sorry about making you guys wait, but Mibi needed help." He takes a seat next to his team and Mibi takes a seat a few feet behind him.

Then they all feel it. A malevolent KI washes over the entire area. As far away as they are, it is still stifling.

"What…what is that?" Neji asks, his body shaking from the sheer weight of the KI.

"Oh that? That is the rest of the shinobi that attacked the town being taken care of by a friend." Naruto says nonchalantly.

"A…a friend? What kind of friend do you have?" asks Tenten. She looks like she is about to pee herself.

The KI dies down and the group lets out a collective breath. Naruto feels the Kyuubi return to the seal. He can practically see the very sated look on Kyuubi's face.

"Pray you never have to meet him." Naruto answers cryptically.

"Anyways, how did you get Shibasaki-sama? We have been looking all over. I said to flare your chakra when you find her." Guy says. His usual speech patterns thrown off, showing just how much the KI had affected him.

"Well, I couldn't because at the time she was being held hostage and doing so would have endangered her. So I created a clone to distract them while I tunneled underneath them and when my clone used a smoke bomb I created another clone and henged it to look like Shibasaki-sama and replaced her with the clone and grabbed the Haiti-ate off the leader at the same time. The clone then came here and I picked up Mibi from where I left her."

The group looks at Mibi who flinches at the stares. Tenten at once recognizes the symptoms of a girl who either had been or was about to be raped.

"Mibi here was about to be raped when I saved her. I left her to find Shibasaki-sama and then came to retrieve her and gave her a pair of pants. This village is finished and there isn't much we can do. I would like to take her with us to the Capital. She obviously can't stay here. We are already going to be going slow with the Daimyo's granddaughter so I figure what is one more?"

Guy thinks it over for a second.

"HOSH!" he says loudly, making Mibi jump and slightly latch onto Naruto. Guy doesn't miss this and lowers his voice.

"I agree with Naruto. We will take her with us to the Capital. We have covered much of the village and I doubt there is anyone else alive. Let's move out within 30 minutes."

Team Guy nods. Tenten immediately moves to Mibi, who clings to Naruto.

"Mibi, it's ok. No one is going to hurt you. This is Tenten. She is a kunoichi and she won't hurt you." Naruto says as gently as he can.

"Oh, Guy-sensei, before I forget." Naruto reaches into his pack and produces a Haiti-ate. It had an Iwa symbol on it. He tosses it to Guy.

"All the ninja wore them. Which begs the question of why Iwa ninja were in the Land of Fire without permission and attacking the Daimyo's family?"

Guy frowns in thought and looks at the two Iwa headbands in his hands. "That is a disturbing thought. I will give these to Hokage-sama when we return. Continue to prepare."

**(Time skip-1 hour)**

Team Guy along with Natsumi and Mibi trudge down the forest road toward the capital. Guy taking point, Tenten in the rear, Lee and Neji on the flanks, and Naruto dead center. Naruto between Natsumi and Mibi, this time with a shirt on. Natsumi turns to Naruto.

"So, with the destruction of that village, I am going to need a new suitor. Care to take his spot?" She asks.

The whole team nearly face faults at her question.

"Wh…what?" is all his brain can spit out.

Natsumi gives a look of annoyance. "I said I need a new candidate for my husband. I chose you to be that replacement."

Naruto is taken aback. No one has ever said they liked him much less propositioned him.

"Uh… why don't we just get back to the Capitol first? We can worry about that later." Naruto says carefully.

Natsumi huffs and crosses her arms. "Why won't you answer me? It is a privilege to be asked to become the future Daimyo."

Naruto sweat drops. He looks around for help, but his team is conveniently finding the foliage very interesting. Naruto sighs and turns back to Natsumi who has an annoyed and expectant look on her face.

"I can't marry you."

Natsumi nearly blows a gasket. "And why the fuck not!" she screams.

Naruto hurriedly places a hand gently over her mouth.

"You need to be quieter so we don't attract more attention to ourselves and get attacked. And as for why I can't: I'm not royalty. I'm a shinobi on Konoha. Your family would never accept me as a husband for you."

Naruto decided to let her down gently. After all he doesn't want to break the girl's spirit.

Natsumi chews this answer for a minute before turning back to him and grabbing his left arm in crushing it into her chest.

"I don't care. They will accept you because it is my choice." She says very giddily.

Throughout the whole conversation, Mibi looks at Naruto. After this last sentence though, she can't hold herself back. She clutches on to Naruto's right arm.

Naruto whips his head around to look at her. He mentally rolls his eyes.

'A little taste of what dad went through, eh.'

As much as he would normally love the attention of two beautiful girls, he feels… he doesn't know what he feels. All he doesn't want to take advantage of them.

'Right now these girls see me as their savior. They see me as their safe haven and they think they like me. I can't do this. I have to distance myself from them for a while or they will not let go when we have to leave.'

Naruto looks to Tenten. "Hey Tenten I'll take rear for a while." He slips out of their grasp much to their dislike and Naruto moves to the back of the group.

Naruto gets next to Tenten and whispers something in her ear. She nods her understanding and moves to take the middle where Naruto had just vacated. Natsumi huffs resentfully, puffs out her chest, crosses her arms, and puts her nose in the air. Mibi on the other hand slips her arm into Tenten's, but doesn't have the near death grip that she had on Naruto.

"**Dear Kami, I enjoyed that. You should try it sometime. Slaughtering dozens and letting the blood drip down your claws. And oh, the screams were music to my ears."**

'You can keep those thoughts to yourself you know.'

"**Oh come on. That is the first time I cut lose in 15 years. Do you know the withdrawal I went through when I was unable to quench the bloodlust? I can still remember the cravings."**

'Yeah, I'm glad for you. Don't expect to be let out like that all the time. People can't know that I can summon you besides those I trust.'

"**Yeah yeah. Oh, and the hime **(princess)** is staring at you."**

**(Time skip- 2 days: 4pm) Land of Fire Capital**

Naruto and his team are at the front gates and are minutes away from leaving. They had gotten in earlier and after a meeting with the Daimyo in which he thanked Naruto and his team, had lunch and prepared to leave.

Mibi is currently clinging to Naruto and is not letting go. Naruto had anticipated this and asked the Daimyo to see them off. He had agreed to take care of Mibi until she is in her right mind.

"Listen Mibi-san. I have to go, but you need to stay here. These people will give you a good life. I can't do that. Here you will be safe and have friends."

Mibi shakes her head and silently cries.

Naruto pries Mibi off of him and looks her right in the eyes. "I know you think you love me, but I don't think that is true. I saved you and right now you are confused and you need to get better. These people will help you much more than I can ever hope to. I care about you, but that is as far as it goes. We are still friends and I will try to write to you. I think you will enjoy it here." He nods to the Daimyo. He motions for a female servant to gently restrain Mibi as Naruto lets go.

"Bye for now Mibi-san. I hope we meet in the future."

They start down the road and disappear. Right as they round the corner, a huge dust cloud can be seen down the road, heading right for the Daimyo. Natsumi slams on the breaks and stops right in front of the Daimyo.

"Where did he go?"

"Where did who go?" he asks Natsumi.

"Naruto! Who else would I be interested in Old Man?"

"Oh, they already left. They wanted to get back to Konoha."

Natsumi looks down the road before turning on her Grandfather.

"Damn you Old Man! You were supposed to keep him here so I can marry him!"

The Daimyo just rolls his eyes and drags her off toward the Governor's Mansion.

**(Time Skip-2 days: 7am) Naruto's Apartment,**** Konohagakure**

Naruto walks in the door and stumbles to the kitchen. Guy had pushed them really hard the past 2 days. He had only 10 hours of sleep in the last 3 days. Naruto pulls out an instant Ramen package and puts some water in it and microwaves it.

After 30 seconds in the microwave, a knock at his door distracts him. He tiredly walks over to the door and opens it. He finds Kurenai at his front door with a girl he has never seen.

"Can I help you Kurenai-san?" Naruto asks groggily.

"Yes. You told Kakashi that you could take Haku-san for a few days until Kushina gets back right?"

Naruto searches his brain, which feels like wading through oil, until he finds the appropriate memory.

"Hai (yes) I did. Is this her?" he motions toward the girl. She is wearing a plain red kimono and has straight black hair and pale skin.

"Yeah. She was at my place for since she awoke since you were on a mission. I have to leave on one now, so if you wouldn't mind taking care of her until Kushina returns it would be a great help."

Naruto just nods and yawns widely. Kurenai steps aside and allows Haku into the apartment.

"Ja ne! (bye or see you later)" Kurenai says before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto looks back to Haku who is looking around his apartment.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I live here and I am very tired. I just got back from a mission."

Haku takes a short but deep bow. "My name is Haku. My old master and I were defeated and I was brought to live here as spoils."

Naruto raises his eyebrows at the term 'spoils'.

"Look, I don't really care what you do, but I am incredibly tired. So after I eat I am going to bed. Do what you like but don't leave the apartment. I don't want you getting lost and something happening."

Haku just nods her understanding. Naruto gives her a quick tour of the place before going to the kitchen and retrieving his now cold Ramen.

'Damn. If there is one thing I hate in this world it is cold Ramen.'

The growl coming from his stomach is demanding nourishment and Naruto decides to eat it anyways. Once done he flops on his bed and bounces several times. He is asleep before he bounces a second time.

* * *

End Chapter 3

word count without comments: 7,839

total word of all chapters without comments: 20,307

Date released: 1/1/11

An: Sorry about the visual and the almost rape scene. It was one of the only things I could think of that would make Naruto so postal on them. It is also his first kill, but he doesn't seem effected by it because he talks it over with the Kyuubi and he knows that they deserved it. For those of you who are asking, Mibi will not be part of the harem nor will Natsumi, although he will meet up with Mibi later on. As for Natsumi, she is just there because Naruto needs some C-Ranked missions. Because of the Iwa ninja, it turned to an A-Class mission.

I also had fun with the Kyuubi. I let him lose. Mu-ha-ha. I thought the Kyuubi deserved some kind of treat for being cooped up in the seal for 15 years with no outlet for the bloodlust. And let's face it. The Kyuubi takes the cake when it comes to painful deaths.

*From Paradox Jast's Whirlpool Country. I don't own this character, just using her because she is so perfect for my story and I don't have to

Anonymous or people who haven't signed up can now review as well. Keep those reviews coming! Your reviews do influence what i write.

Have a very safe New Year and have a blast. I sure did. Playing Dirty Minds is sssoooo fun!

Until next time:

tomhunt


	4. Chapter 4: Games

Author Responses:

to Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain: your the only one to say that. In fact, this I've had more favorites and story alerts for the last chapter than the other 2 combined. Obviously enough people think that a Harem is acceptable, so i will continue to write it that way

to Kaiser Spartan: thanks for the review. I'll work on the homonym errors

**Chapter 4: Games**

**Somewhere in Sunagakure (Village Hidden in the Sand)**

"The preparations are complete, Kazekage. We have 5 battalions of Chuunin and 3 battalions of Jonin ninja all combat ready and ready to move on your orders."

"Good. Is the vessel ready?"

"Yes sir. Shukaku's vessel has been prepared."

"Excellent. Once the exams are over, we will unleash Shukaku upon Konoha, drawing much of their attention away from our battalions. Once we my forces are inside the city, withdraw Shukaku before he goes out of control. I will deal with the Hokage."

"As you wish my Lord."

"Now leave me."

"Hai (Yes sir)!"

The Kazekage draws up a wicked smile. Soon the Sharingan will be his and Konoha will be in smoldering ruins. His two major objectives will be completed in one day. He can barely restrain his excitement. After 20 years, his revenge will be completed.

**(Time skip-2 months) 8 months after return to Konohagakure – Hokage office – **

Sarutobi Hiruzen sits behind his desk. In front of him are his Jonin instructors.

They are currently nominating or not nominating each of their squads for the upcoming Chuunin Exams. All but 3 have given their nominations.

Kurenai steps forward. "I nominate Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino for the Chuunin Exams."

Kakashi steps forward, his nose in his orange book. "I…"

"LOOK AT THE HOKAGE AND ATLEAST ACT LIKE YOU'RE DOING YOUR JOB!" Kurenai shouts at him and hits him over the head.

He gives a sheepish look and puts away the book. "I nominate Sai, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Hanabi for the Chuunin Exams."

Guy steps forward with gusto and everyone covers their ears. "HOSH! I NOMINTATE LEE ROCK, TENTEN, HYUUGA NEJI, AND UZUMAKI NARUTO FOR THE CHUUNIN EXAM! THEY ARE A SHINNING EXAMPLE OF YOUT…"

"THANK YOU that will be all. Please have your teams fill out this form and inform them of the time and place. Dismissed." Sarutobi cuts Guy off. He slumps his shoulders before whipping around to face Kakashi.

"Kakashi , I challenge you to a…"

Kakashi is nowhere in sight.

"Damn you Kakashi, my eternal rival. YOU WIN THIS TIME, BUT I WILL TRIUMPH WITmmmph!"

He is cuts off as Sarutobi hits him in the stomach and tosses him out the window.

"Can't a Hokage get a little peace and quiet in his own office anymore?"

**Streets of Konoha**

Tenten, Lee, and Naruto are enjoying the day off and wondering through the streets looking for something to do. Tenten has an ice-cream cone and Lee has a candied apple. Naruto however has Ramen-on-a-Stick (dry noodles on a wrapped around a Popsicle stick). They pass right in front of the Hokage's Tower. Tenten had to by the snack for Naruto since most of the villagers won't serve him.

Suddenly a green blur falls and crashes into the ground right in front of the Genin. When the dust clears, they see Guy with his head and his shoulders literally stuck on the ground.

"I guess sensei got tosses out for yelling at Kakashi in the Hokage's office again. He really needs to learn some restraint." Naruto says nonplussed. He takes a crunchy bite out of his ramen.

"Do you think we should help him?" Tenten asks, actually considering not helping him out. "He won't learn his lesson if we keep bailing him out. It's what, the 5th time?"

"That's only for the month. If a 50 foot drop straight on his head doesn't teach him, I doubt anything can get through to him."

"HOSH! I will save you Sensei!" Lee rushes forward. Tenten and Naruto sweat drop as he digs out Guy with his bare hands. When Guy is standing on his feet again, there is a 5 foot wide and just as deep hole in the road.

"Thank you my students. You have most proven that your youthfulness is indeed active on your days off." He strikes a pose and a Genjutsu goes up behind him to form a rainbow in the "background". Tenten and Naruto face fault, ruining both their snacks, as Lee's eyes water. He jumps into Guy's arms as they cry together.

"GUY-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GUY-SENSEI!"

"LEE"

"GUY-SENSEI!"

"LEE"

"**KNOCK IT OFF!"** Guy and Lee are blown back by a huge surge in wind.

Both turn to look at Tenten who has several tick marks on her brow.

"Do you know how many people are staring because you keep shouting each other's name like the two guys on Brokeback Mountain?" She doesn't notice the blood pouring out of Naruto's burst eardrums.

Naruto turns to Tenten. "Do you say something?" a blank stare on his face before he falls to the ground, unable to keep his balance.

**(Time skip-10 minutes)**

"Damn Tenten, did you have to be so loud?" Naruto asks. His eardrums had just reformed and he is sitting on a bench because he can't keep his balance with his inner ear shot.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think that it would be that loud." She says sheepishly, her guilt clear as day at causing him pain is clear as day.

He waves her off. "You're lucky that my Kekkei Genkai allows me quick healing. Anyways, Guy-sensei, what were you doing when you got blasted out of the Hokage's office?"

"HOSH!" Naruto winces. His newly formed eardrums are still very sensitive to harsh sounds. Guy sees his flinch and lowers his tone. "We were nominating Genin for the Chuunin Exams that start next month. Here."

He reaches into one of the many pockets that the Jonin vest has and hands all three of them a packet of paper.

"This is the application to enter. The entire team must enter or the whole team is barred. Our team is different. Since the Chuunin Test only allows for 3 team members, one of your either has to not participate or have 2 other Genin from this village be your teammates."

"I'll be the loner." Naruto instantly speaks up.

Tenten and Lee are about to argue at his instantaneous self exile when Naruto holds up his hands.

"I'm the best choice. While I don't like to have to look for new teammates for this test, I am the obvious choice. Neji is too prideful to ask someone. Lee, you are a taijutsu only ninja. That can be hard for others to cope with. Tenten, you are a long range and close quarters specialist, but you have almost no Ninjutsu. I have the best overall skills, stamina, strength, and speed.

"Plus that and I already have one member that I can maybe use. I would need to find one more, but that shouldn't be a problem. I'll have a month to get with them and get in some team practice. I'll be fine. Don't worry."

Tenten and Lee nod in their understanding, but they still don't like having to cut one of their own out.

"Guy-sensei, I request a temporary leave of absence from Team 9. I need time to get my team together and get some practice in."

"Ok, Naruto. The exam starts in less than a month. Show up with your team at the usual team meeting spot the day before the exam at noon and I will fill you in on the details. Dismissed."

With an uncharacteristic wave, he disappears in a Kakashi-like puff of smoke.

"Well this is going to be interesting."

**(Time skip-1 hour) Uzumaki Kushina's house**

"Ka-chan! Are you home?" Naruto calls out. He closes the door behind him and walks into the living room.

"Hai! In the kitchen dear." He hears her call.

He walks into the kitchen to find Kushina cooking lunch. Sitting by the counter he sees Haku. From the looks of it, she has changed a great deal from when he first met her.

**(Flashback)**

_Naruto wakes up from his "nap". He stretches and climbs tiredly out of bed. He walks to the bathroom, then to the kitchen. He pours himself a bowl of cereal and starts to eat. Only then does he notice the girl sitting right next to him, staring at his only-clad-in-boxers body._

"_Uh…hello. You are?" he asks._

_She sweat drops. _

"_You don't remember do you, Naruto-sama?" she says._

_He frowns at her. "Don't call me sama. It makes me feel old. Do you want to continue or were you going to leave it off at I don't remember?"_

_She shakes her head furiously. She jumps up from her chair and gets on her knees on the floor and bows down to him, her forehead touching the floor. "I am Haku, your new tool and weapon. I am at your complete disposal. If it be a living shield or my flesh, I am yours."_

_Needless to say, he is a little shaken by her little speech. He slowly climbs off the chair and gets on one knee in front of her. He takes her shoulders and lifts her up until she is looking at him._

"_Listen to me Haku. You are a person. A living human being. You do not belong to anybody but yourself. You are not a tool for someone to discard when it has no more use or when it is broken or cracked. Get up off the floor. I don't want you to bow to me like that ever again." She doesn't move and Naruto physically lifts her by her shoulders and makes her stand._

"_I do not own you, you belong to no one."_

_She looks away. "But my master was killed and as a weapon, the one who killed him is my master now. The grey haired man took me to here so you must be his master. I will serve you and you alone. I am yours to command."_

_A growl of irritation makes its way out of Naruto's throat. "So if I ordered you to kill the Hokage, would you do it?" She nods. "If I ordered you to every person in this village, would you do it?" Again she nods. _

_He takes her forearm and leads her to the bathroom. He makes her look in the mirror. _

"_What do you see?" he asks her._

"_I see a weapon; a living tool to be used by whoever bests my master."_

_Naruto shakes his head again and gives a frustrated grunt. He points to the mirror. "You know what I see? I see a pretty girl who had a wack job for a loved one of yours and that person manipulated you. He took your willingness to protect him or her and brainwashed you to think that you aren't even a human being. I see a young girl who was used and abused. I see a person who should be living for herself, not for someone who tells them what to do. You should do things because you decide that you want to do it, not someone else."_

**(End Flashback)**

He looks to her again. She has a straight posture, and wearing an actually full-length dress. Her hair is pulled back in a bun on the back of her head.

"Hello Haku-chan. I haven't seen you in a while." He greets her as he sits next to her.

"Hey Naruto-kun. What brings you by here?" she asks.

"I need to ask you something. What are your plans for the future?"

She looks away in thought. "I don't know. I haven't thought about it much. Why do you ask?"

"Because the Chuunin Exams as coming up and I need two teammates. I was thinking that with your shinobi training with Zabuza and it would be good for you if you wanted to join Konoha's military it would be a good opportunity."

"I don't know. I'll have to give it some thought. Thanks for the offer though."

Naruto turns to Kushina, who has been listening in on the conversation, but not saying anything.

"Ka-chan, do you know of anybody that I can ask to be my teammates incase Haku doesn't want to become a shinobi?"

"I don't know Naru-chan. I'm not exactly running with the mother crowd here anymore. Besides, most of the Genin have a squad. Maybe if you go by the Hokage's office then he can point you in the right direction."

"Thanks, I'll do that. Is it ok if I stay over for lunch before I go out?"

"Of course it is. With both of us being on missions, we don't get to see much of each other now. Come have lunch with us anytime you like. I only said that in the beginning to make you go out and socialize."

"By the way, what is for lunch? It smells good. But then again, everything you make smells good to me."

**(Time skip-20 minutes)**

"Naruto, come here please. We need to chat." Kushina calls. Naruto had walked away from the counters right after finishing his lunch. Naruto steps in the living room where his mother is currently seated on a couch and joins her.

"Yeah ka-chan. What's up?" He has a sinking feeling where this is going.

"You." She says, the firm tone in her voice suggests a painful experience if her doesn't answer her questions. The feeling in is gut turns cold, confirming the topic.

"Look before you get upset over what I did, did Shi-chan explain why I did it?"

Kushina shoots him a glare. "The reasons behind it don't matter. You went and stole something of his. You're no better than the whole Uchina clan. They steal without permission and now you have too.

"I'm happy that you defend me so…vigorously, but I can handle myself and my own reputation. I don't want you getting into trouble with the council and make enemies that will hinder you later. What you did was foolish and stupid and I don't want you to do it again."

"Not even if he deserved it? I'm not going to sit by and let that arrogant teme and get away with it. This way next time if he does so, I will let him know just who the top dog is."

"NO! What will happen the next person who makes you mad? Are you going to steal their Kekkie Genkai too? You will be no better than any Uchiha who even activated their Sharingan. You will steal and learn something that you were never meant to have and it can back fire and kill you.

"What's worse is that you will be no better than the person who you despise so much for his arrogance. Your kind of thinking only breeds arrogance and an ego. You will begin to think that it is your job to police the world and that you can do no wrong. I will beat it out of you before I let that happen. Now promise me you won't do it again."

Naruto hangs his head. "I promise."

"Now come over here and give your Ka-san a hug." He hugs her and she hugs him back. He lays his head on her shoulder and she continues to talk.

"Now that you do possess the Sharingan, you might as well learn to use it properly since it will be useful in tight situations. But you must remember that those eyes are a great source of weakness too."

Naruto looks confused.

"Clans like the Hyuuga and Uchiha rely entirely on their eyes. The Juunken relies on the Byakugan to see the chakra points the human body. They then close up those points with tiny bursts of chakra that disrupts them and renders the arm useless since the chakra pathways are very close to the nervous system.

"What would happen if you took away their ability to see chakra points? Or if their Byakugan wouldn't work?"

"They won't be able to right effectively, plus their scout and stealth skills rely on the Byakugan to know where guards and patrols are. Plus they can see traps."

"Exactly. You rely on one sense too much and it becomes as much of a weakness as a strength. It's the same with an Uchiha. You take away their eyes and they are almost useless especially the older and longer they have activated their Sharingan.

"I can have Kakashi teach you how to use it once you activate it, but promise me you won't use it against that boy you stole it from. He can't know that you have it. It will only serve to push him down the wrong path. Ok?"

Naruto nods and disengages himself from his mother.

"I understand, Ka-chan. Anyways, I should go and see if the Old Man has any ideas about a teammate, but I need to go to my apartment first and get changed and showered. See you later Ka-chan."

**(Time skip-2 hours) Hokage office**

Sarutobi once again feels a familiar chakra signature heading straight for his office. He sighs and places his hands on his paperwork, but to his surprise, the door opened calmly and without an enormous blast of wind. He apparently learned his lesson last time when he had to pick up the sheets of paper.

A mop of blonde hair appears in the doorway and Naruto makes his way to a chair.

"Ah, Naruto. I see you have surpassed your mother in maturity. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure you know that I need a couple of teammates to participate in the Chuunin Exams, so I was wondering if you had any suggestions on who to ask. I already asked Haku if she would help, but I don't know if she wants to be a shinobi, so I need more than one reference."

The Hokage is deep in thought. He had expected Naruto to stop by, but he hadn't had any time to divert to thinking about his predicament.

"Well, most of the Genin have already been assigned to a team. You seem to be an enigma. I'm sorry but I don't have anyone that I can think of. I will look through my files and see if I can find anyone."

"Thanks Old Man. I think I'll leave you to your thoughts."He gets up and walks to the door. With a mischievous smile on his face, he bolts out of the office and slams the door shut, causing a great deal of wind. It sends papers scattering across the floor.

The Hokage smiles and sighs.

'Just when I thought he grew up, he makes me rethink that opinion. He really is her son.'

**Konoha Streets**

Naruto is walking back to his apartment, his mind wrapped up in the conundrum of the Chuunin Exams. If he can't get another partner, he can't even enter the test. Things would be better if Haku said yes, but he isn't going to force her.

He is so wrapped up in his thoughts that he doesn't even see the stares and death glares sent his way. No one is going to attack him now because it is a capital crime to attack a shinobi unless it is in defense, but that doesn't stop them from over charging his food and other purchases, stopping him from even shopping at their stores or shutting off his utilities if he is even one day late on the payment.

"**Hey, kit. Head to the farthest training field and let me out. I want to talk with you about something."** Kyuubi says.

Having nothing better to do, he does exactly that.

**(Time skip-20 minutes) Training Field 10**

Naruto lands at the furthest training field from the village.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he says as he slams his hand on his stomach.

With a _poof_ a very large cloud appears in front of him.

"What the hell Kyuubi? Why did you create such a large amount of clouds?" he swipes at the cloud uselessly. The clouds suddenly disappear.

In front of him is a very naked woman. This woman is shorter than him by a few inches, has green eyes, a mob of short brown hair and, to his amusement and concern that he looked and recognized, she has an A-cup chest. Her face is a little round from the baby fat that has yet to go away, she has red glasses and her face sports many zits and spots of inflamed skin. She is scrawny with almost no muscle development. Naruto can see every one of her ribs.

Her hair is so tangled a bird could use it for a nest and is badly cropped short to her shoulders. Her skin is almost deathly pale, and…she has a uni-brow. An actual uni-brow! Naruto has never seen one on a woman before and it only adds to the total look of unhealthy levels of un-cleanliness. Naruto doesn't say it out loud, but this woman standing in front of him is without a doubt the ugliest woman he has ever seen!

"Um, excuse me, but who are you?" he asks very cautiously.

"Why, Naruto, I'm hurt you don't recognize me."The female says. Despite her scrawny frame, she places a finger to her lips seductively and struts toward him.

"K…K..Kyuubi?" Naruto stutters out.

A grin forms on her face.

"I knew you would get it eventually. What do you think?" the female Kyuubi asks, stretching her arms wide to show him her body. Her voice is lacking her normal powerful undertone.

"What the hell, you're a GIRL?" he shouts.

A tick mark appears above her eyebrows. Faster than he can keep up with, she pins him to a tree that was 20 feet behind Naruto.

"Why do you all humans assume that everything fearsome has to have a penis?"she asks coldly.

"It's not the fact that you are a female, well it is, but it's the fact that you let me think you were a male that I'm shocked about. With that reaction, I would have thought that you would have set me straight long ago."

A feral grin comes over her features. **"**I did it to have my own fun. It was so amusing making you think that I was a male. When you talk to me, especially when you introduced me to your mother, I had a blast laughing my ass off."

"So if you manipulated me into thinking you were a male, then why the hostile reaction? Oh, and can you put me down please?"

She gives in and lets him slump to the ground, using the tree as a backboard. She joins him on the ground in front of him, giving him an unrestricted view.

"Once again, I did it for my amusement. And I didn't manipulate you; I just let you think that your initial judgment was right. I knew I could get away with it, so I did it and low and behold, one of my plans worked," She says sarcastically.

"I'm glad I can be of some use to somebody."

Kyuubi reaches over and ruffles his hair.

"Trust me. You're much more useful than just a toy for my amusement.**"**

Naruto looks over at her, which he had been hesitant to, seeing how he doesn't know how she will react to someone staring at her naked body.

"So if that is what your human form looks like, I wonder what your half human-half Bijuu form would look like." he muses more to himself than to her. She takes this as a challenge than a question.

"Let me show you something." Kyuubi stands up and walks a few feet away before turning back to him. Her body begins to shift. Her frame grows longer, lither. Her chest fills out extensively. From an A-cup to pushing the boundaries between C and D. Muscles grow in and tone very nicely, making her look like she isn't skeletal. She now stands even with Naruto (if he were standing).

Her hair lengthens to her waist and the tangles and split ends even out to form silky hair. It also turns a deep shade of red. Next, her face contorts. It becomes sharper, firmer; her cheekbones raise themselves and grow broader and the baby fat disappears. Her skin becomes smooth, gains color and takes on a pearly gloss and all traces of any blemishes are gone. Her eye brows part neatly, leaving two very tamed and shaped eyebrows. Lastly, her eyes switch from green to red.

Now standing in front of Naruto is easily the hottest woman he has ever seen. She looks like a woman in her early twenties and still without a shred of clothing and the way she is standing leaves nothing to the imagination. A geyser of blood erupts from his nose and he passes out instantly.

He awakens a few minutes later. He feels something warm underneath him and when he opens his eyes, he stares into a pair of fierce red ones. Her fire-red hair cascading over her shoulders and softly touching his face. He puts two and two together and figures out that he is lying on her lap.

The memories of why he passed out return and he sits up rather quickly and backs away about 3 feet, eliciting a smile on the red head. He turns back to her and blushes massively at her still naked body and the fact that he was just lying on her very naked lap. But he keeps his wits and doesn't pass out again.

"**Welcome back to the land of the living, Naruto,"** her voice full of power. He does a double take at the sudden change in her voice.

"What the hell Kyuubi. I thought you were that ug…other girl." He dodged bullet. He almost said the tabooed word to women: ugly. At least it is when referring to the girl you are currently talking to or her close friends.

"**I would have thought you caught on by now. I have the ability to change the dimensions of myself, so I can make myself look like whatever I want. This is the way I perceive myself as a human."**

Naruto nods his head in understanding. "Most women would kill for that ability," he mumbles. "So what did you want to talk to me about before we… got distracted." He asks her, wanting to get away from the topic of her body.

Kyuubi puts a finger to her lips and pouts, trying to make herself look cute. **"What, you don't like spending time with me? The real me anyways. Or is me being a hot woman to weird for you?"**

He knows a trap when he sees one, so he counters. "With the way your acting, you would think that you wanted me to see you naked and spend time with you in your very hot, very _human_ form."

This time it is the Kyuubi's turn to blush. **"What? I don't like to wear clothes. I was born all-naturale **(I don't know how to spell it and neither does MS) **so why can't I be like this? Don't you like seeing me like this?"** she taunts him.

She strikes a very sexy pose that draws another nosebleed. She is a fox by nature and as such, they like to play games with people. This happens to be one of her favorites with kids and young and even some old men (like Sarutobi) who don't know how to deal with a hot woman.

Naruto sighs. She wants to play this game, fine. He will give her something to play with. (Giggity!) He takes out a handkerchief and stuffs it up his nose.

'**Shit, he is getting serious.' **Kyuubi thinks. She smiles as he is going to play this game with her. It's been too long since someone has played the game well with her, much less win.

"You know I do, so that's why you turned into such a hot woman. You pose, you taunt, you go without clothes. The only conclusion I can come up with is that you want me to see all you have to offer. And I must say, I like what I see."

The blush extends down her chest, making her face almost match her hair. She quickly schools herself and with her pride on the line, Kyuubi pulls out all the stops. She gets up and parades herself right until she is right in front of him. Suddenly, she sprouts 9 completely red tails and her pupils become black slits. Her nails elongate and her canines become much more pronounced. Her chest expands so now she is closer to a G-cup. She places her hips right in front of his face, his eyes dead even with her lower lips and she slowly lowers herself, allowing him to analyze her body on the way down, and one of her breasts rests on his head and the other one has her nipple right in front of his face.

She sees the handkerchief in his nose twitch slightly. So she ups the performance. She takes her engorged bosom that is in his face and starts to massage and squeeze the massive piece of flesh right in front of his face.

The handkerchief rockets out of his nose from the pressure and he passes out. His skin is very pale and he is breathing very shallowly.

"**Damn. I think I over did it; looks like he is a breast man."**

For the second time, Naruto wakes on the practice field. He feels a familiar heat underneath his head. He opens his eyes and his ocean blue meets blazing red ones, again. She cracks a smile at him.

Naruto slowly sits up and faces Kyuubi. This time she is clothed in a blood red kimono with a white outline of her full nine-tailed form wrapping around the front and back. Her hair is tied up in an intricate bun on the back of her head and held in by at least 6 senbon. She has her tails out and her feral looks still grace her features, but her breasts are back to their "normal" C and ¾ cup. She only grew them out to mess with him he deduces.

Kyuubi just got hotter, if possible. Naruto almost passes out from looking at the angel in front of him, but he fights it off and goes with an obvious question to break the tension.

"When did you get clothes?" he asks.

Kyuubi shrugs.** "My body is a lot like your mindscape. I can change almost anything that I want about it. From my appearance to what clothes I am wearing. I cannot change what I am, but I can manipulate what I look like."**

"So that game we played could have been avoided? Do you know how much blood I lost?" Naruto asks. Annoyance clear in his voice.

"**What? I just wanted to have some fun. You played the game well for your first time to openly flirt with a woman. Maybe with some time you can beat me at it."**

He notices the tails behind her. "What's with the tails?"

"**You were curious about by hybrid form, so this is it. I have my tails and my claws and fangs, but I still look human."**

Naruto is about to say something when she silences with her hand. He notices her nails are perfectly clear and look like they have been manicured.

"**As much as I like to talk to you about random things, I did have a reason to ask you here. If you don't have a third teammate by the end of the week…I can be your third teammate." **She sheepishly looks away, slightly embarrassed at the offer.

Naruto is stunned by her offer.

"Why would you want me to my teammate? You're the great Kyuubi. Why would you lower yourself to help me?" he asks, not sure if she is joking with him or not.

"**Look…I…want to help you as much as I can. I feel responsible and terrible for making you have a harsh life so I want you to become a very strong shinobi and show this village that they are fools for treating you like they have."**

Naruto has a gnawing feeling that she isn't telling him everything, but first he has to address this blaming issue.

"Assuming that I blame you for that, how different would I be from the villagers if I didn't forgive you? You obviously regret what you did and have been my closest companion my entire life. And just so you know, I don't blame you more than I can blame a desk if I stub my toe on it. I could never blame you or be mad at you."

He pauses his speech to let it sink in before asking her about her reasons.

"Kyuubi, why else do you want to help me? I can tell that you are holding something back from me and I want to know what it is." He ends his little speech as gently as he can.

Kyuubi goes rigid. She hadn't expected him to pick up on that.

"**Look, I don't want to talk about it. Just leave it at that."** She gets up from the ground and walks a few feet away.

When a pair of arms encircles her waist from behind, she gasps. Her body goes from rigid to concrete.

"I can see that this is very painful for you. I want to help you out. You can tell me _anything_. From your deepest desires to your darkest secrets to what you ate for lunch. You are my best friend and I hope that I'm yours. If you say to drop it again I will, but telling me might make you feel better and maybe it is something I can help you with."

He lets go of her and walks in front of her. "I am all ears anytime you need me."

Kyuubi is stunned. No one has ever been this nice to her. She is his best friend. She has never had many friends. Who needs friends when you're an ageless, all-powerful being? Not only that, but he wants to be her best friend. And here he is, trying to be a friend to her, true to his word.

A tear sheds from her face. For the first time in a long time, she is wanting to have a friend, for _him_ to be her friend.

She is brought out of her thoughts when a finger wipes the tear from her alabaster skin.

"Crying doesn't suit you," he says with an understanding smile.

"**Thank you for you kind words. I won't' forget them…but…I'm still not ready. I will tell you when I am and you will be the first to know, but until then, please drop it."**

Naruto nods his head. He goes back to the topic at hand.

"So, also assuming I say yes, how would we go about you being official to even be my teammate?"

"**Oh, that part is easy. You tell Sarutobi that I am a friend you met when you were training with your mother and that I am willing to be your teammate temporarily. Now, do you want my help or not? I can be the same girl I looked like at first and come up with a name."**

Naruto is slightly shocked at the complete 180 in her mood, but he shakes it off. "Alright I give in, but how are we going to explain your chakra? A lot of people felt your chakra 15 years ago and will know it in an instant."

"**That's easy. How do you think I went about without being captured for centuries? When you live for a long time, you gain an exceptional control over your chakra and I've learned to completely hide it from humans. The Byakugan won't be a problem because I can put chakra all around my body to keep them from prying."**

Naruto thinks for a second. "But if you're using your chakra as a cloak, then how will you hide it?"

Kyuubi thinks for a second. **"I can mimic yours. If you transfer a little bit of chakra into me, I can clone it and make a portion of my chakra feel like yours but a little off. I will suppress the unmodified chakra. This ability comes in handy when trying to evade and assassinate someone."**

Naruto looks dumbfounded at her comment. She catches this look. **"What? You think that I always went on a massive destructive rampage to destroy something? I enjoy the occasional assassination and watch a city or country fall apart, but rampaging is my favorite. The feel of breaking something, the smell of fear…Kami it is intoxicating."**

Naruto shakes his head. "Remind me not to get on your bad side. How are we going to do this?"

She walks toward him, all business now. **"There are two spots in which chakra is transferred the easiest. One is on your diaphragm and the other is over your heart. Sit on the ground with your legs crossed."**

He does so. After he is sitting, she sits on his lap, her back up against his chest. This position makes him blush bright red. But what he can't see is her blush is almost as bright.

"**You might want to put something in your nose because in order to do the transfer, skin to skin contact must be made, meaning that I have to take this kimono off or at least open it up and with you right behind me…well, I'll leave it to your imagination."**

Naruto gets a small nose bleed from the imagery and puts a new handkerchief and plugs his nose. Once that is done, she opens her kimono. Kyuubi wasn't kidding. With him being right behind her, he has a great view right down her chest and since she isn't wearing a bra, he can see her pink nipples. He can feel the handkerchief get drenched. After a few seconds though, it clots and Naruto's brain cools down.

"**Alright, place your right hand just above my stomach and your left hand over my heart."**

"Is there any other way to do this?"

Kyuubi nods her head. **"Yes there is. I can forcefully take the chakra from you, but I won't do that."**

"It might be preferable to this method."

Kyuubi shakes her head, making her hair fly everywhere. **"No. It will kill you. To be able to take someone's chakra, you have to override or overpower the host's own chakra. This means that once you start, you don't stop until the body is completely drained of chakra.**

"**And what are you complaining about? You actually get to touch something of value without paying. Most men would kill for a chance like this and I'm giving it to you for free."**

Naruto rolls his eyes and mumbles something about perverts. He places his hands on the designated spots. He becomes very aware that his right hand is touching the bottom of her generous breasts and his left hand on top of her left breast. He is nervous about being in this intimate position and his nosebleed continues unabated.

"Let's hurry and get this done. My handkerchief can only absorb so much blood."

Kyuubi giggles, which is weird to him that an all powerful, centuries old creature would giggle. It sounds even weirder since the giggles are in her normally power filled voice.

"**I'm going to draw your chakra into myself. When you start to feel it flow, don't resist."** Naruto nods and almost instantly feels a pull on his chakra.

It flows from his chest to his hands and into her. It is an interesting sensation to say the least. This distracts him from her current state of dress, or undress, for a while.

After a few minutes, the flow of charka tapers off to nothing and Kyuubi stirs. Naruto instantly takes his hands off of her.

She shifts in his lap, leaving her kimono wide open, returning his attention to just how skin is exposed. However, she doesn't get up. She just lays there and leans against him for support.

"**You chakra feels so nice and warm. I feel like I can go outside in Snow Country without clothes on and not be cold."**

"Is that weird?" Naruto asks, not sure is that's complement or not.

"**No, it's not weird; well it is weird, but certainly welcome. Most people's chakra feels cold since each person has chakra specific to them, but yours is very warm and relaxing. I could fall asleep right here."**

By now Naruto is having trouble keeping a piece of anatomy from showing itself. Ever since she shifted in his lap and ground up against his hips, he has been fighting a losing battle. Her open clothing isn't helping matter. He decided to do something before she finds out.

"As much as I would like to stay like this, I would like to release my tails and relax some at home. You can change into your fox form with a single tail and hop on my shoulders so you don't have to go back into the seal."

Kyuubi pouts for a second, not wanting to leave her source of heat. But she realizes the longer they stay like this in the open, the more likely they are to be found and have to answer some difficult questions.

Kyuubi starts to change; her clothes instantly sink into her skin and her body shrinks as well while sprouting red fur all over. A single tail pops out as she stops her shrinking. Naruto finds Kyuubi no bigger than a normal fox, but just as red as her full sized self. She yips at him before jumping up on his shoulders. Her nose just under his chin as her mussel and tail snuggle up against his neck and cheek.

Naruto laughs at her. Even though he may be a chick repellant because of the rumor mills, one look at Kyuubi snuggled up against his neck will send them into a frenzy that not even him being a "demon" can repel.

"You're going to get me into trouble with the girls in this town, Kyuubi." He starts to head back to his apartment.

"**Kiyomi" **Kyuubi whispers.

"What?"

"**That's my real name. Kiyomi. Don't wear it out,"** and then she falls asleep.

* * *

End Chapter 4

Chapter Words: 7,039

Total Words: 27,346

Date released: 1/04/11

AN: Kyuubi may be an all powerful creature, but she is still emotional and has a conscience. Also, the torso weight on Naruto is slim, showing more of his abs/stomach. It goes from his belt line to the middle of his abs. I would make it smaller like a belt, but this way it spreads out the weight more evenly and is more practical.

To explain Sakura, she isn't in the village. She exists, but not in this village. You will find out why later.

I got tired of the same thing: Sakura being a fangirl and Sakura being a more emotionally dumb than Naruto. So I came up with something a bit different. If you don't like it, tough. My story = my plot. There is a method to my madness. All will be revealed in good time.

For those of you who are wondering how Hannabi is in the same Genin class as Hinata, I made it so that she graduated early. She is very smart and because of Hiashi choosing her over Hinata, her academy level training in almost everything way above her age. Plus I needed someone to replace Sakura in the Rookie 9.

Also, this will not be a rehash of the original story. It will be up to the Chuunin Exams, but after that, it will be original with some of the same events like Pain invading Konoha, but drastically different.

Thanks to all who reviewed! Keep at it. I love to hear what I can fix and what I did well.

tomhunt


	5. Chapter 5: Revelations

AN:

Thanks for all the reviews! keep them coming!

to Demon Naruto 117: Yes, it will be a very small number of people. 4 or less. I hate stories where Naruto has sex with anything that has a two legs and a pussy. The emotional aspect will be there and all will have a legitimate reason to love him. I may bring it down to 2 or 3, but that probably won't happen.

to Volos: yeah, Ino is taking the spot of the fangirl Sakura. I'm not a huge fan of Ino to begin with. She (to me) is very, very shallow and it doesn't change much, even after the time skip in the manga. Sakura will be totally different in personality and not a whiny bitch like in most stories. she will mostly look the same, but with some minor differences

The style may get confusing so here:

'man this is boring' - thoughts

"Man this chick is hot" - regular speech

**"Ouch!" -** powerful voice, jutsu

**_"Damn that hurt."_** - mental conversation w/ powerful voice

_"Why did she hit me" - _flashback, mental conversation w/o powerful voice

**Chapter 5: Revelations**

**Naruto's Apartment – 8 am**

Naruto strolls out of his apartment at 8 sharp. He doesn't have anything else to do so he is going to a training field for some training alone with Kiyomi. The fox is in the seal, sleeping. He walks down the main street, which he realizes is a very bad idea.

The hateful glares and threats make Naruto want to use the roofs. Not that he is afraid of them, but because it would cause an incident and may get the attention of the Council. He doesn't want to go through that again.

**(Flashback- 2 days after return to Konoha) Council Chambers**

_Naruto is sitting beside Kushina in the Hokage's office waiting to be called into the meeting. Kushina is giving him advice on how to deal with the Council._

"_And what every you do, don't lose your temper. They can put you to death for threatening a Council Member and they will take any opportunity to do so. Don't react, even if they insult me, make fun of me or you father, nothing. Doing so will only let them win._

"_Don't mention your father. They don't know and they don't need to know. Just tell them that I never told you and I will tell them off. Oh, and don't worry about the mob attack from yesterday. If they try to do anything to you then I will rip them a new one and Sarutobi will help."_

_Naruto looks at his mother. _

"_I thought you said that they would kill someone if they threatened a Council Member?"_

"_Oh they can, but they won't be to physically be able to kill me. Not before I kill all of them."_

_Naruto rolls him eyes. She is always like that. Doing practically whatever she wants because nobody can stop her. At least she has only done that a few times to his knowledge and they were for his benefit. While he doesn't think it is a good thing to flaunt your power around like a sword to get what you want, he can't deny its effectiveness._

_At that moment, the doors open and Sarutobi's secretary steps in._

"_Kushina Uzumaki and the Demon are to report to the Council Chambers. There are extra Anbu on duty today, so you had best watch yourself or find yourself on the wrong end of a sword." She says with as much venom as she can muster. _

_They approach the doors and before they step through, Kushina pulls the secretary aside with a sweet smile before punching her square in the face. The secretary goes to the floor, her face covered in blood. Kushina bends over her and picks her up by her collar and stairs her right in the eyes._

"_You would do well to remember who you are talking to. The real Demon is inside my son, protecting us from it. You should show some respect for a boy who has kept a thousand year old monster in check for so long." She lets go rather violently, making the secretary head hit the floor, causing the woman to grab her broken nose and run off._

_With that Kushina opened door and the room instantly quieted as the two enter. They find two dozen people, mostly male, around an oval table. Sarutobi sitting at one end. _

"_Welcome, Kushina and Naruto Uzumaki. Please, make yourselves comfortable." Naruto and Kushina find two chairs at the end of the table near Sarutobi. _

"_I trust you had no difficulties on your very short walk here?" he asks innocently._

_Kushina waves him off. "No, but you might want to let your secretary have some leave to fix her broken nose."_

_He raises an eyebrow at her, but says nothing about it. _

"_Now that all concerned parties are here, let the meeting commence. Does anybody have any opening statement?"_

'_Here is comes.' Thinks Naruto._

"_The Demon should be put to death. He attacked several citizens yesterday and injured many of them." A civilian councilman says immediately. _

_Sarutobi sighs but before he says anything Naruto jumps in._

"_I would like to point out that they attacked first and they should be grateful that they aren't dead since attacking a shinobi is punishable by death." Naruto says matter-of-factly._

"_Since when are you a shinobi? You have arrived yesterday and you must go through the Academy to even become a Genin." A nameless red shirt in the back says._

"_That is my doing." Sarutobi says. "I made him a Genin yesterday when they arrived at my office. That was the deal that Kushina and I made 10 years ago. Besides, I'm sure he is far more advanced than any Genin that was put out this year."_

_A member of the ninja council chuckles. "You think that this Gaki is up to a Genin level? From the looks of it, he can't even hold out against a first year academy student."_

_Sarutobi doesn't miss a beat. "Are you implying that Kushina, the Red Death of Konoha, is such a poor ninja and teacher that she can't teach her own son to be better than some fresh student who most likely doesn't even know what chakra is?"_

_The ninja on the council pale. They all remember quite vividly what she is fully compilable of. _

"_Now, if you think that a first year Academy student can beat a ninja 7 years his elder and trained by one of the most powerful kunoichi in the world, go right ahead. The issue here is not if he is any good. The purpose here is to either charge him with assault on 12 villagers or not. If not then those villagers must be punished accordingly."_

_The Council stirs. _

"_For my part, here is the official form making one Uzumaki Naruto a shinobi as of 1400 hours a shinobi of Konoha's Ninja force. It is sighed and stamped and processed at 1500 hours."_

"_What? That's impossible. No matter how fast you work there is no way a paper can get processed in an hour." a man with half his face covered says._

"_I beg to differ. It helps when you know everyone that works under you and who owes me a favor. I figured something like this would happen so I proceeded as fast as I could. Now, Naruto were you wearing your Haiti-ate when you were attacked?"_

_He taps the metal at his forehead. "Yeah. I almost never take it off. I got it the day before they came after me."_

_He nods. "Why don't you tell us what happened from your side?"_

_Naruto nods._

"_I was walking back to my apartment after spending most of the day with my new team. They were showing me around since most of my memories of this place are from the perspective of being chased. Anyways, I was headed down the main street when a group of people stopped me. _

"_They demanded to know where I had gotten my Haiti-ate from. They thought I stole it from someone and when I told them off they got angry and tried to remove it forcibly. Obviously I couldn't let that happen since this belonged to my father, so I defended myself and only went for disabling strikes despite it being in my full rights to kill them."_

"_I have here the reports from the responding Anbu that corroborate that he was indeed wearing his Haiti-ate when they responded." Sarutobi says as he pushes more papers forward._

"_And just who is your father?" the man with the cloak asks, his voice showing great interest. He completely ignores most of the story._

_Naruto shrugs apathetically. "Don't know. Ka-chan never told me. I assume that I was either an unwanted baby or she didn't love him to feel that I shouldn't know who he was."_

'_Nice. Now they think that he is some kind of delinquent, which couldn't be further from the truth. While I don't like you even acting like I never loved him or that you weren't wanted, it works for now.' _

"_Kushina, who is the body's father?" the voice comes from the Nara clan head._

"_It's none of your business." She states._

"_I demand to know who this boy's biological father is." This voice comes from a fat ninja sitting next to Shikaku. _

_Kushina doesn't budge. "I told you once before. It's none of your business. I will tell Naruto if I feel like it or he asks, but so far he hasn't."_

_Naruto takes the hint. 'Sorry dad, but this is just for now.'_

_"I don't want to know or care about that bastard. He obviously doesn't care about us. The only reason I didn't give up my Haiti-ate was because it is likely the only one I will have." Naruto says with carefully crafted ease.  
_

"_Then how do you know it is your father's if you don't know or care who he is?" Shikaku asked._

"_Because Ka-chan told me. I was reluctant to take anything that bastard had, but I don't have anything else, so I wear it." The only part of that statement is true is the first part. _

_This only riled up the Council more. They keep on demanding to know who the father is and she keeps telling them to shove it up their collective asses._

"_Enough, Anbu arrest her." Danzo says. _

_Several Anbu members move toward her from out of the shadows. _

"_I advise against such actions Danzo," is all she says._

"_**Oh, I hope he does it. I've always wanted to see her in action."**__ Kyuubi says with a bloodthirsty grin._

"_Anbu, stand down." Sarutobi commands._

_The Anbu sink back into the shadows. _

"_Danzo, you would do well to remember that ALL the shinobi forces are under my direct command. You and the council can only override my actions in non-military affairs with a 2/3 majority vote. Now if Kushina does not wish to reveal the identity of the father, then she has no obligation to. _

"_If we are done with the sidebars, I'm sure these two would like to get out of this stuffy room."_

_Nobody speaks up, but most of the civilian council shift uncomfortably in their plush chairs._

"_Now, if there are no more arguments or evidence, we will decide. All those in favor of charging one Uzumaki Naruto of assaulting citizens of Konoha raise your hand."_

_All but two of the civilian Council raises their hands and Danzo also raises his hand."_

"_All those in favor of not charging Uzumaki Naruto."_

_More hand raise. Sarutobi takes a count. "The current vote is 11 to 9 with 4 abstaining; favor goes to not pressing charges. Kushina and Naruto Uzumaki, you may exit the chamber."_

_He and Kushina get up from their chairs and after a very quick bow, they go around the table to the door. On the way, the last civilian whispers so low that Naruto barely heard it._

"_Smile now while you can, Demon. Your time will come and come quickly."_

**(End Flashback)**

Naruto is knocked out of his thoughts when he almost bumps into someone. Muttering a quick sorry, he attempts to walk around, but finds his path blocked. Naruto raises his head and looks at a man who is easily 6'5".

"Where are you going, Demon spawn?" he spits at Naruto.

Naruto sighs. He is tired of dealing with troublesome citizens. "Do you want to get out of my way? I would like to get in some training in."

The man smirks. Naruto notices a crowd around him, encircling him.

'What is the point of this? They know they can't attack me.'

"**They are probably going to try to get you riled up. Word of what you did to that Uchiha spread pretty quickly I imagine."**

"_Makes sense. So they will try to do this every day? What a drag and waste of time."_

"**I agree. Just jump to a roof and get around them. I would also avoid this route from now on."**

Naruto mentally nods and prepares to jump off.

"Naruto!" he stops and turns toward the voice.

He sees Tenten and Neji standing on a roof right across from him.

"What's going on here?" Neji demands. Naruto is slightly shocked to hear an actual emotion out of the white eyed boy.

"Oh nothing. Just catching up with a few friends." Naruto jumps and puts his arm around the giant man who originally blocked his path. The man quickly faints.

"THE DEMON HAS ATTACKED! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" was the most common phrase shouted through the streets. Tenten and Neji just look on in amazement. The street is cleared in a matter of seconds.

"What was that about?" Tenten asks.

Naruto just shrugs. "They don't like for one reason or another. It's not like the can do anything to me, so I'm not worried."

His teammates jump down and join him on the street.

"So what were you doing before you met up with your 'friends'?" Tenten asks using air quotes when she said the word friends.

"Oh, I was going to go train for a while since I haven't had any luck finding some teammates."

"Mind if we join you? Guy gave us the day off and we don't feel like resting."

"**I don't know kit. You would be showing them your arsenal."**

"_Yeah, but I can't just not take them. They are my teammates after all. Their benefit is my benefit later on."_

"**Whatever kit. It's your choice. I'm not teaching them any jutsu's."**

Naruto nods in understanding and motions for Tenten and Lee to follow him.

**(Time skip-10 minutes) Training field 12**

"Why do you come all the way out here?" Tenten asks.

"So I can work in peace and not really worry about people bothering me or stealing my hard work."

Naruto starts off with stretching and a warm up. 50 sit-ups, pushups, squats, and 10 laps around the training field. Tenten and Neji join him and by the end they are lightly winded while Naruto has barely broke a sweat.

He turns to them. "Don't freak out guys, she doesn't bite."

Naruto turns around and squats. He quietly summons Kyuubi out of the seal. After a large puff of smoke (bigger than usual) Naruto stands back up.

"**Well, let's get too…what the hell? I told you no visitors while I'm training you."**She is in her single tailed Fox form and is double the size she normally would be outside of the seal to make herself look like a summons species.

"Well, they are my teammates and wanted to come along for some training."

Kiyomi eyes them and Tenten and Neji suddenly feel an urge to look at the ground.

"**I guess. But don't expect me to teach them anything."**

"That's fine. They can just follow me. Guys, this is Kyuubi, my personal Fox summons and my sensei."

Tenten and Neji's eyes go wide and they immediately get into a fighting stance.

"Look, it's not what you think. Kyuubi is not the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The 4th Hokage killed the Kyuubi. So it obviously can't be here. And if it was, wouldn't it be trying to kill us and most likely succeeding? And I heard that it was a male. Kyuubi here is a female. I'm sure she would be glad to show you."

Kiyomi goes around and bites Naruto on his right ankle. When Naruto whirls around to yell at her, he sees amusement in her eyes. Amusement at his sexist comment and the fact that she is willing to show them that she is not a male.

Tenten and Neji nearly jump out of their skin when Kiyomi bit Naruto, but when Naruto doesn't attack and they see her not attacking again, they relax slightly.

'Good, they seem to by buying the story that Kiyomi and I came up with on the way here.'

"**Right. Enough goofing around. Give me 200 sit ups, crunches, chin-ups, pushups, and 30 laps around the field. Naruto, increase your weights to 80 pounds on your arms and legs. Up the weight on your core to 200 pounds and up the gravity by 50%. Now get to it!" **She bellows.

After about an hour Tenten and Neji are lying on the ground, exhausted. They have never had such a workout. Naruto was still going even with his weights and they are not his normal weights. They are astounded at his stamina level and wonder just how strong he really is.

"**Now take out your katana and go through the basic katas. After that go directly to the final level and do them again. Wake me after you're done."**

Naruto bows to keep up the charade while Kiyomi goes off to a log about eye level and goes to sleep.

Neji and Tenten watch as Naruto goes through the 5 basic katas like water. He is graceful in every mov, his movements are exact and precise. After he finishes those, he tosses his shirt off around Kiyomi, who flinches.

"**What have I told you about tossing your nasty and sweaty close near me? Do you know how terrible they smell?"** She says as she moves away from it.

"Sorry, wasn't looking at where I threw it." Naruto says innocently, but the grin on his face tells her it wasn't an accident.

"**Oh, you're going to pay for that. Continue your exercise."**

Naruto shivers slightly. When Kiyomi says he is going to pay, she means it. To her it isn't a threat, it's a promise.

As Naruto moves through the advanced Katas, Neji has to use his Byakugan just to keep up. And Tenten is having trouble, but it isn't the sword she is looking at. His chest and arms are the most delicious thing she has ever seen. From his rock hard abs to his muscular shoulders. She finds herself drooling at the sight.

"_**The girl you brought is drooling at you."**_

"_Whatever. I think you're just trying to distract me."_

Naruto finishes and is now breathing hard. At over 2 hours of Kenjutsu practice and add in the weight and gravity, it wore him out.

"**Sorry folks, but from here on out it is private. I will teach him ninjutsu that is for him only. It was nice to meet you. I hear many stories from him about his teammates and his squad leader."**

Neji raises an eyebrow at Naruto. He had deactivated his Byakugan right after Naruto had finished with his Kenjutsu practice. Both Tenten and Neji are astounded at his level of conditioning.

'No wonder he was able to get all three bells from Guy.'

"Really, what kind of stories?" Tenten asks with great interest.

"**Oh well, there…"**

"I'm really sorry, but we have to go and train," Naruto interrupts very hastily. He picks up his shirt in one hand and picks up Kiyomi in the other. He sprints off into the forest.

"**Let go of me you little ingrate! Do you know how insulting it is for me to be carried like this?" **are a few of the minor swears Tenten and Neji here Kiyomi roar at Naruto before becoming very obscene.

"Oh well. It was a good workout. Maybe we should get Lee and Guy up here and see what they think of his training regimen." Tenten muses.

"That would be overkill. Both of them at once? I wouldn't wish that on anybody. It is more his trainer that I'm concerned about. While using the Byakugan, I saw a strange chakra emitting from the Fox. I think there is more to the Fox than either are telling us."

Tenten shrugs. "Not my place. He was very nice to let us come along to train with him. Not many people would do that. Not that he showed us much. Anyways, I suggest we rest because if not Guy and Lee will wonder why and we will have to tell them about Naruto."

**With Naruto**

"What the hell are you doing? You could have gotten me killed!" Naruto snaps at Kiyomi having finally stopped and put her down.

"**I told you I was going to get you back and now I will have to get you back twice as bad for interrupting my first one." **She pokes him in the chest with a finger. She had changed once he had put her down.

"**And for the record, if you pick me up like that without a damn good reason, you will find yourself eating dirt or missing a certain male appendage."** She threatens.

Naruto pales and unconsciously puts his hands over said appendage, hiding it from view. Kiyomi smirks at his reaction.

"**But enough stalling. Run through your entire ninjutsu arsenal. Then you will work on which ones you are having problems with."**

"Do want me to go through _that_ jutsu?"

Kiyomi thinks about it for a second. **"Yes. Just because we practiced it in the Mindscape doesn't mean that you will be able to do it here. Just face it away from Konoha."**

Naruto begins with his Academy level jutsu. Kimwari and Bunshin. Next he goes for his C-Rank jutsu with includes several Fuuton and all of his Katon (because it is the Fire Country) since he doesn't have it as an affinity. After he does that he goes to B-Rank. Most are the rest of his Fuuton minus one and a few of Kiyomi's jutsu.

Next is the A-Rank. The Rasengan and the rest of Kiyomi's jutsu using Bijuu charka. After that are the Double Rasengan, Giant Rasengan and Rasenshuriken. He prepares for his newest S-Rank jutsu.

This jutsu also is a parent jutsu. It can do two more powerful versions, but Naruto can't do those yet. Naruto starts off by forming a Rasengan. He learned a long time ago to do this with one hand. Next he adds Wind Chakra to it, but instead of spinning it to where it forms a shurikan, he keeps it confined.

"**Wait! Someone is coming! Cancel the jutsu!"** Kiyomi says urgently, changing back into her Fox form.

Naruto immediately cancels the jutsu and lets it dissipate. He walks over and let's Kiyomi up on his arm to climb to his neck and they wait for the person.

After a minute of waiting, nobody comes.

"_**30 meters out, straight ahead. He is waiting and watching you. Another in a tree 2 meters behind the original signature."**_ Kiyomi thinks to him.

Naruto scratches her behind the ears, eliciting a purr from her before depositing her on the ground and releasing his weights at the same time.

Naruto vanishes. He reappears next to the unknown male with a kunai against the back of his neck. He recognizes Neji.

"What are you doing here Neji? I could have killed you by accident if I hadn't sensed you earlier." Naruto says as he puts away his kunai.

"I was curious." Neji's voice is cold as ice.

Naruto eyes him and Kiyomi comes into view and hops onto Naruto and takes up her spot around his neck.

"So you came here to spy on me?"

"No, I came to find out what that fox on your shoulders really is!"

Naruto is slightly taken aback.

"She is a regular fox. Her name is Naomi. I named her after a friend of mine."

Neji points a finger and pokes him in the chest. Kiyomi growls at Neji.

"Don't take me to be some stupid villager. I saw the weird chakra inside that "summons" fox you had and I see it in this fox around your shoulders. So why don't you start explaining before I go to the Hokage."

Naruto sighs. He hadn't planned on telling them until after the Exams.

"Fine. Tenten, come out. I know you are here." He calls out. Sure enough Tenten lands beside Neji.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I tried to stop him from spying, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"It's ok. I will tell you because you are my teammates and I…" he stops.

He turns around and flings a kunai into the brush. A second later, the same kunai is thrown back and Naruto catches it in the air.

"Good. I hoped you were paying attention." A voice calls out.

From the brush steps an Anbu with a cat mask on. The Anbu has long purple hair.

"It's good to see you sharp on your feet." A female voice comes from behind the mask.

Naruto rubs the back of his head. "It's good to see you too. It's been 10 years, right?"

She nods her head. "Well, I didn't come here for a social call. The Hokage wishes to see you. I was ordered to escort you to him."

Naruto nods. "Sorry guys. I have to go." He turns and leave with the Cat masked Anbu.

They jumps off and once they get to the roofs, they slow.

"I kinda lied back there. I was only supposed to tell you that he wants to see you, not actually escort you, but I heard what you were about to tell them so I made sure that they couldn't follow."

Naruto smiles at her. "Thanks Yuugao. It means a lot to me."

She ruffles his hair. "You're welcome. I haven't had a chance to see you in 10 years. You look good stud. Now come here and give me a hug."

After they embrace, they continue to walk towards the tower.

"Why were you going to tell them about your friend?" she asks. She reaches over and rubs Kiyomi behind the ears.

"Because they are my teammates. I don't want to keep anything from them. I was going to tell them after I make Chuunin, but looks like the next time I see them I will have to tell them."

"Are you going to tell them everything? Like how your fox here is the mighty Kyuubi?"

Naruto does a double take. "How did you know?"

She laughs and puts her hand down, much to Kiyomi's dislike.

"I overheard everything the Hyuuga boy said too. And it isn't too hard to figure out if you think about it. I don't know if it is free from the seal, but Kyuubi probably shouldn't be on your shoulders when you get to the tower."

With a small puff the fox is gone.

**(Time skip-5 minutes) Hokage Tower**

Yuugao and Naruto part ways at the base of the Tower. Naruto climbs his way up the stairs and enters the Hokage's office.

"Ah, Naruto. I see that you are prompt. I hope this is the start of a new habit."

Naruto shakes his head. "Sorry Old Man. This was a onetime thing. By the way, you have impeccable timing. I was almost forced to answer some tough questions when Yuugao came to fetch me. So what did you need me for?"

Sarutobi pulls out a sheet of paper and hands it to Naruto. "Here is a list that I've compiled of Genin who don't have a team or are one man short. Feel free to ask any of them."

Naruto looks down the list of 7 Genin. None of the names stick out.

"Thanks. Do you need anything else?"

Sarutobi shakes his head. "I have nothing further for you. You are temporarily grounded from missions, even D-Rank until either the Exams are over or if you cannot or decide not to enter. Oh, can you tell Kushina that her mission report is due in 2 days?"

Naruto, who is already at the door, stops and turns around. "Sure thing. I have to get back to training after I deliver your message." With a puff of smoke, Naruto disappears, the door closing with a small _click_.

**Kushina's House – 2pm**

Naruto opens the door and walks in. He calls out and hears her upstairs. He climbs the stairs and enters her room. He is standing in the room for a few seconds before she exits her bathroom in a towel, as well as her hair. A few red locks fall down from the wrap. He can clearly see her wet shoulders and her shapely legs. Naruto turns around very quickly.

"I'll wait downstairs." Naruto starts to leave.

"Not so fast. You didn't come here for a social call. Spill it," she commands. Naruto stops in his tracks.

He sighs and doesn't turn around. "No. I'm going to go downstairs and wait for you to be dressed. It isn't that important so it can wait for a few minutes." Naruto walks out of the room and shuts the door behind him.

He goes to the kitchen and gets himself a glass of water and sits himself in a chair and waits. After a minute or so, Haku comes down.

"Ah, I thought I heard your voice. I wanted to talk with you about something."

She sits across from him. She has on a very light orange sun dress and has a wicker hat in her hand and sandals that have straps that cross up her calves.

"What is it?" he asks.

"I've decided to become a shinobi. I decided that with all the training I have that it would be a waste of my abilities and talents to not use them."

Naruto nods. "Are you sure? Once you do this it is a very hard to get out. Are you sure that you wouldn't want to work at the hospital? With your ice abilities, you can make instant ice packs and stop bleedings, and a lot of other things. Also with your knowledge of medicinal herbs, I'm sure they would like to have you."

Haku shakes her head. "I've already thought of that. While my abilities could be used there, I feel that I wouldn't be able to grow to my full potential. Why are you questioning me? I thought you would be glad I made this decision?"

Naruto shakes his head very quickly. "Don't get me wrong. I'm ecstatic that you decided to become a shinobi, but I wanted to make sure you considered all your options. I hid my reaction because I didn't want to pressure you. I want you to decide your own path, if it is fighting or a civilian life. I want it to be your decision and yours alone."

Haku is slightly stunned by his explanation. She shakes herself free of it.

"It is what I want and it is my own decision."

"Great. Then welcome to the shinobi ranks of Konoha. Before you decide to be on a team with me, there is something that you need to know about me. Have you heard of the Bijuu?"

Haku nods her head but before Naruto can continue, Kushina makes her entrance. Her hair is loose and free flowing. As she comes down the stairs, it flows out behind her like a billowing cape. She is dressed in a smile t-shirt and jeans.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No. I was just about to explain my "condition" to her. Feel free to join in and make some comments that may help."

He turns to Haku. "The fact that you know what a Bijuu is makes this much easier to explain. I'll get straight to the point. I have a Bijuu sealed inside of me."

Haku's eyes go wide.

"Before you ask how that is possible, I'll tell you. 15 years ago, the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked our village. In a last ditch hope, the 4th Hokage used a forbidden Jutsu to summon Shinigami, the god of death, and sealed the Bijuu inside of me. This cost the Hokage his life, but he saved the village."

He finishes his story and looks to Kushina, who is standing over the back of the couch, to see if he left anything out. She shakes her head and they wait for Haku's reaction.

After a few minutes, she looks at Naruto.

"Is that why the people of this village glare at you and try to hurt you?" she asks quietly.

Naruto nods his head. "That is indeed the reason. They believe by killing me, they will be finishing what the Hokage started. They also think that the Kyuubi has taken control of me. Which is hasn't. The Kyuubi is stuck behind a seal that make it impossible to harm or control me."

Haku nods. "I understand now. Thank you for telling me. I have no qualms about being your teammate."

"Good. I have a meeting with the Hokage next week and I will tell him then. Now all I have to do is find one more."

"Naruto, come with me for a second." Kushina says.

Naruto gets up and follows Kushina up the stairs and back to her room.

"I guess you want to know about what I came to talk to you about." Naruto says to Kushina's back.

She turns around. "Do you think I'm pretty?" she asks.

Naruto is so stunned that she would ask him that his brain only has enough capacity to ask simple questions. "What?"

"Do you think that I am pretty?" she asks again. Her face is down and looking at the ground.

Naruto's brain unfreezes. He walks up to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. "Of course you're pretty. You're gorgeous."

She lifts her face and gives him a quick smile. "You only are saying that because I'm you mother."

Naruto shakes his head and forces her to look at him. "Where is this coming from?"

She looks away, but Naruto can't tell from what emotion. "Well, I don't have a boyfriend. I hardly have any male friends outside of work. Hell, I haven't even had sex in 15 years. And the way you turned around so quickly today make me wonder if I am ugly."

Naruto sighs. He wraps her in a hug. "Ka-chan, as much as a male I am and like to see naked women, you are my mother. I turned around because I don't want to look at you for your looks. That isn't a healthy relationship. I respect you the most out of everyone I know and I don't want to ruin that by doing something that I shouldn't do." He pulls out of the hug and makes sure she is looking into his eye before continuing.

"Mom, you are a very beautiful woman. You are one of the most beautiful that I know of. You outstrip all but a small percent of woman in the village, maybe even the whole world. You are the personification of death and beauty. Any man would be very lucky to have such a caring and compassionate person to love them.

"If you are ready to start dating and move on past dad, that's fine. I don't have a problem with it. Just don't expect me to like every guy you date? Oh and about the sex thing, I really didn't want to know that. You can keep your sex life to yourself. I just don't want any half brothers or sisters anytime soon, ok?"

She chuckles at the last part. "I know. I don't know if I will ever get over your father. He was my world. I don't know if I can ever let another man into my life to replace him. I feel like it would dishonor him, that I wasn't faithful."

"I understand how you feel. I personally don't like the idea of you dating some other guy, but it is your choice. I'm not going to step in unless I see something I really don't like. But I think dad would have wanted you to move on and have another shot at love and a family that will last."

"I know that is what he would want, but I don't know if I ever could."

"You maybe one of those people who is a one love person. But you are still young and still have plenty of time to find someone else."

She gives him a look.

"What? 35 is still young. And you look great for your age from all the training you do."

She gives him a smile and quickly hugs him. "Thank you Naruto."

Naruto smiles as he holds his mother tight. "I'm glad I could help. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask me. I am all ears for you." He lets go.

"Oh, there is one more question. What did you come over here for? I feel like it was a lifetime ago."

"The Old Man wanted me to come over to tell you that your mission report is due in two days."

Kushina face faults. After being helped up by Naruto, she huff to herself. "Geeze. Always a stickler for paperwork and a pain in my ass. One would think that he enjoys the paperwork. On top of that, he made you come out to see me just to tell me when me mission report is due."

Naruto rubs the back of his head. "Well, it's not like I don't enjoy coming over to see you and Haku-chan."

Just then Naruto hears someone crying. He looks around for a second, but finding nothing.

"Honey, are you ok?"

He realizes that is coming from inside his head.

"Yeah Ka-chan. I'm fine. I need to get going. I'll see you tomorrow when I pick up Haku for some training."

They walk out of her room and to the front door. After saying his goodbyes to both women, he disappears in a cloud of smoke.

**Naruto's Apartment-3pm**

Naruto appears outside and unlocks the door and opens it. After shutting it, he locks it behind him. He takes off most of his clothes and climbs into bed and falls into his Mindscape. As the familiar sewer greats him, he takes off running.

He only stops when he reaches the cage holding Kiyomi. He looks inside but he can't see anything, the shadows are too deep. He concentrates and the bars on the gates grow wider, allowing him access into the cage. He wanders back and sees Kiyomi slumped on the floor weeping. She is clothed in the same kimono only her hair is down. He closes his eyes and concentrates once more and the scene shifts.

They are in a big room. It has a very Victorian feeling to it. It has large windows that are streaming in light, several bookshelves lined with books and a large desk in a corner. In the middle of the room is a circular table with 4 wood chairs around it. Lastly is the bed. It is a king size canopy bed. On said bed is Kiyomi.

She stops crying and is looking around the new room. She spots Naruto and she attempts to hide herself under the covers.

Naruto calmly walks over to her and takes the covers off. He finds her trembling. She recoils violently when he puts a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. This draws a very concerned look from Naruto, but he doesn't touch her.

"What happened?" he asks. His eyes dance over her, looking for any sigh of injury.

"**Just go away,"** she tells him.

"No." is his reply.

"**JUST GO AWAY!" **she bellows. She takes a pillow and beats him over the face with it, trying to get him to move away and leave her. He grabs the pillow and yanks it out of her grasp and throws it away. She grabs another pillow only for him to yank it away too. This repeats itself until she has no pillows left on the bed. At this point, she is breaks down, tears streaming down her face, leaving Naruto bewildered and very conserved about her.

Naruto, not knowing what to do, does the only thing he can think of. He hops on the bed behind her and pulls her against his chest. She starts to struggle, but he holds on tight. Eventually, she just gives up and lets the tears run free.

"Why are you so upset? I don't understand what happened to make you so violent towards me?"

"**Just go away."** She sobs quietly.

"No. I won't. Kiyomi, you are my best friend. It tears me apart to see you like this, that you wouldn't trust me enough to tell me what the hell is going on. I don't care if I don't wake up again, but I am not leaving until you tell me what has you so bothered."

The tears subside, but she remains quiet. So he just sits there, her in his arms, waiting patiently. He waits for hours, but still she remains quiet.

"**You need to go. It is time for you to get up and train."**

'So that was her plan.' Naruto thinks.

"I already told you. I'm not leaving. I don't care if the rest of the world thinks that I'm in a coma, but I'm not leaving until you tell me. I can train any day, but right now, I think you need to get something off your chest and I wouldn't be a very good friend if I didn't help."

She is silent for a while.

"…"

"What? You need to speak up so I can hear you." He shifts so that his face is right up against hers.

"**I said I don't deserve you."** So quiet is her voice that he barely catches it, even as close as he is.

Naruto scrunches his face in confusion. "Ok, now you've lost me."

"**I've done so much to hurt you and yet you don't place any sort of blame on me when I deserve it. You should hate me."**

Naruto holds in a sigh. "I've told you time and time again. I can't blame you for what happened. What kind of person would I be if I held that against you for 15 years?"

"**A normal one."**

He waits for her to elaborate. **"Usually when someone loses a loved one, they can't forgive those who are responsible. I am responsible for taking away your father, your childhood, any friends you may have had during your childhood. You should have been treated like a prince."**

It clicks. She heard the conversation in Kushina's room and she is blaming herself for everything. "Dad made the decision to sacrifice himself. You aren't responsible."

She shakes her head. **"You don't understand. I tore your family apart; I made your mother, someone I find quite impressive for a human, question herself. I…I have caused you to get beaten by the village you saved. How can you not hate me?"**

Naruto holds her tighter. "Because I care for you. I like you Kiyomi, as a person, as a Bijuu, as my friend. It isn't in my nature to hate those I care about for very long."

A single tear falls from her puffy red eyes. **"No! You don't understand. I…I…"** she trails off. She puts her head down and becomes silent.

Naruto waits for her to continue. When she doesn't he prods her.

"You what?" he asks gently.

"**I…I was tricked. I was tricked into attacking Konoha. I should have been smarter. I should have been stronger."**

Naruto listens intently. This is her regret, the source of her anguish. He decides to mentally catalog all the questions to save until later.

"**The day before I attacked, I went out hunting for my kits. There was ****Chiharu (Chi-Ha-Ru), Moriko (More-E-Co), and Takeshi (Ta-Ke-She). I was gone for an hour and when I got back to my den, they were gone. I searched for them all over and all night. I didn't, I couldn't rest until I found them, but didn't. **

"**The next day I was approached by a man that smelled of snakes and another man that has an orange mask. They wore black robes with red clouds. They told me that my kits were taken by Konoha for research, but the two smelled of my kits. I was about to attack them and force them to tell me where they are, but I had a no control over my body. I couldn't move. The man in the orange mask had a Sharingan pointed right at me and it was spinning. Next thing I knew, I was in attacking Konoha. I saw Shinigami and then I was in the seal."**

Tears rack her body again. **"The worst part is that I don't know what happened to my kits. I don't know if they are alive, dead, or some experiment in some basement calling out to me to save them."**

She goes hysterical at this point and Naruto just lets her cry. He holds her tighter, letting her use him for support. Naruto thinks over what she has told him. The people in the red clouded cloaks must have been the ones to take her kits. Taking into account of the Sharingan and her blacking out probably means that she was placed under a Genjutsu and a powerful one at that. He feels his ire rise and quickly becomes angry at those people.

Kiyomi feels his anger and thinks that it is directed towards her. She stops crying. **"Now you understand how this is my fault. I should have been stronger and smarter; to put up more of a fight."**

Naruto's anger doesn't subside. "No, this isn't your fault."

She turns slightly to look at him. He sees her red eyes and the surrounding area puffy and swollen.

"Kiyomi, listen to me. You are not at fault. Those two men are. They obviously watched you for a very long time and learned your habits, they waited for you to leave and took your kits, they put you under a very powerful Genjutsu and forced you to attack Konoha. They are responsible for my father's death and my pain, not you. You did the best you could. You said you were about to attack them and that is good enough for me.

"After the Exams, we can look up and track down these people for you and find your kits. I believe that they are still alive if they are anything like their mother. That is a promise of a lifetime."

She taps his arms to let her go, which he does hesitantly, and gets out of his lap and moves to face him.

"**But what I've done is in…"**

A finger pressed to her lips silence her. "I already told you that you aren't to blame. You said it yourself, you were tricked. You have no fault here and are blameless."

She looks into his oceans of eyes. She sees confidence, anger, and most important, sincerity. A tear leaks out of her eyes as she launches herself and tackles him.

"**You don't know what this means to me!"** She kisses him fully on the lips before she even knows what she is doing. After her emotions calm down and she realizes what she is doing, she springs off him and lands a few feet away from him, blushing madly.

Naruto's brain is fried. He has never been kissed by a woman like that. Slowly, he comes back to life and sits up. When he sees Kiyomi, he blushes, remembering the scorching kiss.

"**Thank you. For being my friend, for believing in me, for helping me for finding my kits, for not leaving me, for not hating me. So many things to thank you for and I don't even know how to."** She won't admit it, but the last one was the one she was most worried about after learning her secret.

Naruto gets a bashful grin on his face. "I would consider that kiss a pretty good thank you."

Kiyomi blushes more at the comment.

"Now that that is settled, I do have a few questions."

She nods. She expected as much

"First off, you said you have kits but you didn't mention anything about a mate. Why is that?"

She shrugs. **"Simple. I never had a mate."**

Naruto is about to open his mouth and ask another question when she hold up a hand to stop him.

"**I already know what you are going to ask. I have had sex, but not a mate. The two are separate. I go into heat randomly. The first time was about 150 years ago, after that was about 10 years after that one. I didn't go into heat again until 50 years ago or so. I haven't gone into heat since. I sought out a compatible male and had sex and then left and raised my kits on my own.**

"**Chiharu is the oldest and my first daughter. Moriko is the second oldest and my other daughter and last is Takeshi, my only son. They all have red fur like me. Chiharu had 3 tails with white caps, Moriko had 3 tails with brown caps, and Takeshi had 1 with a yellow cap. I really hope they are alright."**

"I bet they are laughing and having a good time as we speak. So are all foxes born with only one tail?"

She nods. **"Normally they are. But I was special. I was born with 4 tails already. My mother was very surprised. I was the youngest to ever have 9 tails. So a few years after I got my ninth tail I challenged the Kyuubi back then and defeated him and took the title."**

"So the foxes fight for the title of 'Kyuubi'? Does that mean that someone will attack you?"

She nods. **"Out circumstances are a bit special. No Kyuubi has ever been sealed. So I assume that a nine tailed fox will someday challenge you for the title since you hold me and you will most likely loose very badly as very few human can ever go up against a nine tailed fox."**

"So the other Bijuu are like the foxes and they fight for the titles? Are they limited to the number of tails they can have?"

"**They are the same in the fact that they fight for the title, but each differs in how they are born and how many are born. I believe that the current Shukaku is the last of his kind so he will stay as Shukaku until he dies or the End of Days. As for the last question, they are limited. The foxes will always have the most available tails. Don't ask me why, I don't know why it is like that."**

"Are there anymore than nine tails?"

"**That is a complicated question. Technically there is a tenth tail, but only one has reached that level. We called it the Juubi. But it was centuries before the first shinobi villages were founded. So it is more like a myth than fact. Most don't believe that it is true."**

Naruto thinks for a second. "So you have a chance to gain another tail?"

"**Technically yes, but nobody knows what condition must be met in order to gain that extra tail."** The confused look on Naruto's face tells her to elaborate. **"In order to gain a tail besides the first one for us requires for a certain condition to be met. Most of them are to gain an increased amount of chakra and control over it to gain the next one. The last one to gain the ninth tail is different. You have to have complete mastery of your chakra and have defeated a nine tails to gain your ninth."**

Naruto nods. "Thanks for answering my questions Kiyomi. It helps with the whole Bijuu picture now."

"**No problem. It is the least I can do."**

Naruto shakes his head. "I don't want you to think that you owe me anything and you don't. So please down say things like that. I want you to do something because you want to do it, ok?" He gives her a smile.

She nods in understanding. She turns around and starts exploring the room. She opens several of the books, looking at their contents. She smiles as she reads one of them, but she puts it back before Naruto asks questions. Said person gets up from the bed and joins her in exploring.

"**Hey Naruto, how are we this close? Before I couldn't get within 20 meters of you."**

Naruto shrugs. "I guess it is because I am in the seal too. I slipped in through the bars before I changed the sewer to the room. I guess it is like going through a window instead of the locked door."

She nods her understanding. They explore the rest of the room, finding many things that Naruto didn't even know were in there, like a bathroom with a shower inside. Kiyomi smiles at the fact that she can be clean for the first time in 15 years.

"I should go. I don't want to waste the whole day in here. I do have training to do with Haku." Kiyomi nods and before he goes, she wraps him in a tight hug.

"**Thank you. For everything."**

He smiles at her before fading from view. She instantly loses her clothes and enters the large shower and finds the showerhead with multiple attachments for varied ways to spay the water. She also finds a Jacuzzi next to the bathtub (the shower and bathtub are separate). She is going to enjoy living in this new Mindscape.

**Outside Naruto's mind**

Naruto yawns and open his heavy eyes. Immediately he feels built up and crusted sleep in the corners of his eyes, making it painful to open. Once he clears it, he gets up and goes to the clock. It is 3 in the afternoon. He had spent a whole day in the Mindscape with Kiyomi. He takes a quick shower and puts on new clothes before leaving to go train with Haku.

* * *

End Chapter 5

Chapter Word Count: 8,912

Total Word Count: 36,258

AN: A lot of things I didn't plan on for: Didn't originally plan for this chapter, but I needed to show that the village still hates him and is trying to get rid of him. I didn't plan for this chapter to be so long and involve so much. I hadn't planned on revealing Kyuubi's background until after the exams, but this works too. I hope everyone likes the humor. I'm trying to liven up the story.

I chose to make Kyuubi very vulnerable here, but i assure you, the bloodthirsty and vengeful Kyuubi will make a big return in the next chapter. I also made it so that Kiyomi can change from normal to her powerful voice very quickly, so don't be confused if she doesn't have bold words all the time.

As always, please review. I especially need reviews for this chapter. I don't want to confuse anybody in my explanation since I am going off cannon. Don't hesitate to ask if you have a question and I will do my best to answer it or correct.

Thanks for you time,

tomhunt


	6. Chapter 6: The Exams

AN: First I would like to apologize to the readers. I was treating this more as a kyuubi story than a Saku. I have gotten back on course and changed a few minor things. That being said...

to 5awD0g:

One: I have already explained why Sakura isn't in the city. Don't get pissed off because you didn't read the author's comment several chapters ago! She isn't in the city, hell, she isn't even in the country, and won't show up for a while. If you have a problem with that, I can just make my story like the other 90% of the Naru/Saku stories out there and just rehash the major events. Not. I'm not going to alter the story because you want Sakura to join in early.

two: Don't complain about Naruto not being his "normal" self. I changed it like most authors do. I can make him sing and dance, make him have sex with everything that has two legs, I can make him do anything I want him to. Don't get pissed because he isn't what you expected.

three: I don't mind suggestions, but outright demanding that I change the story to fit what you think should happen does not fly with me.

So...

Sorry about that folks. I get very defensive when someone demands I change the story when they obviously haven't read the author's notes that are there to make sure you don't get confused. I feel better now.

**Chapter 6: The Exams**

**Hokage's Office-Konohagakure**

It has been a week since the nominations of who is going to take the exams. Sarutobi has given Naruto several names from which to choose, but when asked, none of them accepted. Not having any other chance, Kiyomi and Naruto are sitting across from the Hokage with Kiyomi is in her disguise.

"Hey Old Man. I went and asked the people you gave me and nobody wanted to participate this year. I can only assume that is has something to do with them being afraid me."

The Hokage nods his head and turns his attention to Kiyomi, giving her a scrutinizing looks. She looks away as if embarrassed, keeping up her ruse. Instead of being naked however, she has on a non-too flattering long sleeved blouse and matching skirt that is a horrendous shade of puke-green.

"And you are?"

"Me?" she asks very shyly.

"This is Naomi Hitake. I met her a few years ago while training in the forest. She is a privately trained kunoichi. When nobody wanted to join me, I called in a favor with her parents and they agreed to help me out. That is if you allow her to."

Sarutobi gives her another appraising look. Despite her very small frame, she screams trained shinobi. The way she is sitting means she has a clear view of the door, himself, and the window. She can also be up in a flash, despite her relaxed look. She has a set of kunai on each arm (a new addition and they are real) and one strapped across her chest, the hilt towards the ground. He can see a bit of ninja wire just poking out of her sleeve, which is probably no accident.

Aside from that, even though she is shy, each time she looks at him or anywhere, he can see her eyes doing quick scans of the areas for any hint of a trap or threat. All in all, she looks like a well trained kunoichi.

"I will allow it. Ms. Hitake will wear a Konoha Haiti-ate for the duration of the Exams. Are you aware of the stipulations and dangers that you will be exposed to during these exams?"

"Hai. I got permission from my parents before I came here. Also, here is the required form." She hands him a document that is obviously (to Naruto and Kiyomi) falsified.

He gives it a quick look before opening up a drawer and stowing it.

"Has Haku-san given you an answer yet Naruto?"

"She has agreed to become a Leaf Shinobi. She has also agreed to help me in the Exams. I think that she will be very helpful in the Exams."

Sarutobi nods his head. "Alright. Exams are in 3 weeks. I suggest that you get in some practice and come up with some combination strategies. Go to the Academy with Naomi and Haku tomorrow and give Iruka this. He will give the two of them their Haiti-ate. Dismissed." He stands and gives Naruto a scroll before ushering them out. For once, Naruto doesn't slam the door shut on his exit.

He returns to his dreaded paperwork and as he raises his pen to sign his name, a very strong wind comes from _under_ the door. Sarutobi growls in severe annoyance as he calls in his new secretary to help him pick up his papers.

**(Time Skip-3 weeks) Training Field 1 – Konohagakure**

Naruto, Kiyomi/Naomi, and Haku are getting in some last minute practice. It is the day before the Exams and they are working off stress. Right now it is two on one against Naruto. They are limiting themselves severely on their fighting. No point in tiring or injuring themselves too much.

Naruto just so happens to be in a sticky situation right now. He has his left foot caught in Kiyomi's ninja wire and Haku is pressing on the attack while Kiyomi keeps Naruto off balance. Haku feints a right hook before spinning on her heels and switching to a left back fist.

Naruto blocks the back fist and jumps back only for Kiyomi to pull on the wire and in a flurry of hand movements and passes by him, he finds himself strung up by his elbows on a tree. Kiyomi laughs at his predicament.

"I yield. I don't want to get injured so I won't try a risky movement. I don't want to tire myself out so I won't use a jutsu, and I won't cut your wire because don't want to have to buy more before tomorrow." So can you let me down now?"

Kiyomi giggles and lets him down and none to gently. She walks over to him to make sure he didn't break his ass on the fall.

"What the hell Naomi? I was aiming for not injuring myself." He says with a huge amount of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, poor little baby. Would you like me to kiss it and make it all better?" She asks, a playful smile on her face.

Naruto rolls his eyes. "I'm not doing that with you today. Why don't we call it a day and just relax the rest of the day. We want to be at our best tomorrow."

**Kumogakure**

"We have reports that Konoha's Jinchuuriki has returned and will be participating in this year's Exams."

A figure in the shadows grins. A long hood overshadows most of his face (think the Palpatine from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi). He is sitting around a small table of his most trusted advisors.

"What do you have in mind, my Lord?" on faceless figure asks.

"We have much planning to do. Prepare the Nibi and the Nanabi."

**(Time Skip-next day)** **Konoha Academy**

Naruto arrives with Haku and Kiyomi as Naomi and they walk in the front door. Haku points to the crowd, but Naruto shakes his head. They want to level out the competition. They move quickly up to the second level and past the very large crowd up to the third (I'm sure everyone is tired of the same event over and over again so I'll save everyone a headache and skip that unimportant scene).

They see Guy and Kakashi and surprisingly Kushina at the end of the hallway. The trio walks up to them. Kakashi is surprisingly the first one to great them.

"I just want to say good luck. I wish that you were on my team. I would have loved to teach you. You are making your father proud," he says with an eye smile.

"Hosh! My student. You will pass this exam with the bright light of your mighty youthfulness! I have absolute confidence in you!" Just then they hear the sounds of a fight on the floor below them.

"Their youthfulness is very low today. They need me to boost it on today of all days and help them pass! I am off!" Guy disappears in a green blur.

Kushina walks up and hugs first Naruto, then Haku and Kiyomi. "I know the three of you will do just fine. Just make sure you don't crush the competition too much. We don't want to scare them away now. I will be waiting to watch you at the preliminaries. Now go show those rookies what it is to be an Uzumaki!"

She disappears in a puff of smoke and they enter the next room. The room is filled with shinobi from all Elemental villages. They, for the most part, are clumped together by village.

The Kiri-nin are to their immediate left. Then in the far left corner are the Grass-nin. Between Kiri and Grass are the Oto-nin. In the far right corner are the Iwa-nin. To Naruto's right are his comrades, the Konoha-nin, and in-between Konoha and Iwa are the Suna-nin. Naruto, Haku, and Kiyomi quickly find a seat in the Konoha section. After a few minutes, a group of Iwa-nin approach Naruto.

"Hey, you. You look just like the Yondaime Hokage. Are you related?" the one in front demands.

Naruto looks at him so lazily it makes Shikamaru proud before turning back to the conversation between Shino, Shikamaru, and Kiyomi.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" the Iwa shouts.

When Naruto continues to ignore him, he makes to grab and make Naruto pay attention to him.

"I wouldn't do that." A feminine voice says, the ninja's hands inches from touching Naruto. He looks to see "Naomi" looking at him.

The Iwa ninja smirks and grabs a handful of Naruto's clothes. Next thing the he knows, he is pinned to the ground by several ice senbon. The room stops talking and everyone's attention is focused on them. Naruto gets up from his seat and bends over and looks right into the Iwa-nin's eyes.

"I heard you the first time. My teammate warned you not too, but you didn't listen. I suggest you you're your friends take you back to your corner before you do something you are going to regret." Naruto's voice is so cold and emotionless that it can put out a fire just by proximity.

The Iwa ninjas get their comrade up off the floor. He glares at Naruto and walks off, not before saying, "Watch yourself out there. It is a dangerous test. Accidents can be fatal."

Naruto doesn't show any sign that he heard the ninja and resumes his seat. The room breaks out into whispers and chatter, no doubt about what just happened. At Naruto's table, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji all start talking amongst themselves. Naruto catches a bit of the conversation, completely ok with not talking.

"Hey, you see those guys over there from Suna? I heard they attacked the Hokage's grandson." Kiba whispers. Naruto slyly turns around to see three people with Suna Haiti-ate with the Suna brand. He eyes the one with the black rings around his eyes.

"Naomi" also turns around, curious about who had the balls to attack someone so close to the Hokage. She may even go up and congratulate him or her. Once she fully turns around, and sees the one that Naruto is staring at. She instantly recognizes the familiar dark shades around his eyes and she smiles.

'This should be quite interesting. I may need to pay my old pal a visit.'

Naruto catches the smile.

"_What's up?"_ he asks via their mental link.

"_Oh nothing, we just have another Jinchuuriki here. They boy with the raccoon eyes holds I__chibi no Shukaku."_

Naruto's eyes go wide and eyes Gaara again.

Ino's eyes go wide. "No way! They could have started a war with that stunt."

Shikamaru shakes his head. "I doubt it would have come to war. Suna is our ally. I heard it was just the one in black and wears makeup that did it all. Most likely if any harm had come to the Hokage's grandson, that Suna shinobi would have been put to death to keep peace."

"I heard that…"

The door slams opens and reveals the Last Uchiha. He takes a look around the room.

"Well, it looks like it will be an easy test just by looking at the contestants." He states. Almost immediately he is, or would have been, skewered by dozens of kunai if Ino hadn't let out a giant squeal.

"Sasuke-kun is here!" she runs up to him and leaps into the air to give him a hug. Sasuke just sidesteps and lets her fall flat on her face. This gets a collective chuckle from the assembled Genin. Behind him enters Hanabi, Sai, and the rest of Team Guy.

Tenten and Lee immediately join Naruto, dragging Neji with them.

"Hey there Naruto. Care to introduce your teammates?" Tenten asks.

Naruto nods. "This is Naomi Hitake, a long time friend of mine." He indicates to his left. "And this is Haku. She just recently joined the Konoha shinobi corps and lives with my mom until she can get an apartment of her own." Haku waves at them while "Naomi" just grunts in acknowledgement.

"Naomi, Haku, this is Lee, Tenten, and Neji of Team Guy and my teammates."

Naomi just gives a small wave and retreats into her own thoughts. Haku on the other hand seems to want to actively engage others in conversation about various topics. Naruto smiles at this. Haku hasn't had the chance to have many friends, especially when she was with Zabuza. He joins in the light conversation about things they had been doing for the past month without him.

His attention is grabbed when a silver haired Genin steps over to the other table. He catches most of the conversation, but his attention is really grabbed when "Kabuto" as he said his name was, pulls out a huge deck of cards.

"I want to know Rock Lee, Gaara no Sabaku, andNaruto Uzumaki," drones the monotone voice of Sasuke.

Then "Kabuto" pulls out the according card and a rotating three dimensional picture of the person appears on the card. He reads off the stats of the first two. Naruto pays attention to Gaara's dossier, mentally cataloging the information. He is astounded when Lee's card came up that it was all accurate down to how thick his eyebrows are.

Then "Kabuto" pulls out Naruto's card. His image comes out of the card.

'Shit! I can't him read that card. With how detailed the information on the other cards were, he could reveal my heritage or the Kyuubi. Then those Iwa ninjas wouldn't hesitate to try to kill me. Not like that could with Kiyomi sitting right next to me, but I don't want that to happen!' all these thoughts go through his head in less than a second.

But before "Kabuto" reads off any information, a kunai comes out and skewers and card to the wall. They look to see who threw the kunai.

"I can't have you knowing all my secrets now can I?" Naruto says coldly. He forms a single hand sign and then claps. A burst of air rips from his hands and rips the card to pieces, which gets most people to gape at him for knowing an elemental jutsu. He retrieves his kunai and sits back down, Sasuke glaring at him the whole time.

"That was a mighty fine display there Naruto-kun. My name is Kabuto. A pleasure to meet you." Kabuto had walked over to Naruto.

He is about to respond to Kabuto, when he feels Kiyomi stiffen next to him. Through their link he feels her start to seethe in anger. He decides to ignore Kabuto for the more immediate problem.

"_What's going on?"_ Naruto asks her.

"_**That boy smells like snake. I hate snakes. I want to kill him so badly."**_ Naruto is shocked to hear her normal, powerful voice. She must be really upset to lose control over her transformations.

"_Calm down! I understand why you hate snakes so much, but I don't think that is a good idea to start a fight right now. It would not only kick us out of the Exams, but you would have to reveal yourself as the Kyuubi."_ He doesn't want her lack of control right now to seep into her appearance too.

At Naruto's words, her brain kicks in and her anger goes down, not by much, but at least enough to let the killing intent that she hadn't realized she had been releasing to stop. The room lets out a collective breath as the KI drops. The KI had been so much that it saturated the room in less than a second to the point where nobody could pinpoint the source, lucky for Naruto's team.

Next, the door to the next room bursts open, showing a very tall, very scarred man with several tick marks on his forehead.

"What the fuck are you doing in here? Quiet down or I will fail you all right now!" he shouts, making most people cringe. The KI was so much that most people in the village felt at least some part of it, including the instructors in the next room.

"Well, since you seem to be in a hurry to fight, let's get this show on the road. You will all pick one piece of paper from this bucket. On that paper you will find a number that corresponds with a seat number. NOW GET TO IT!" he shouts. Most people get up immediately and rush the man. Naruto and company merely sit and wait for most of the group to get and number and file into the next room.

The man spots Naruto's group as the last ones and inwardly smiles.

'These guys look like they know what they are doing. Better watch out for them.'

Once Naruto, "Naomi", and Haku have their numbers, they enter the hall, the very tall and pissed man right behind them. Haku and Naruto are sitting next to each other in the back and Kiyomi is sitting on the far side of the room in the front next to a Kiri ninja.

The man goes to the front of the room.

"My name is Ibiki Morino and I will be your examiner. This part of the exam is a written test." Most Genin groan.

(See manga for rules, I'm not going over them)

Naruto and Haku open their tests (think SAT booklet, yes I'm changing it). They look and see the questions. Naruto notices something about the paper that shouldn't be there. It has a chakra signature. Sends some chakra to his eyes and very cautiously activates the Sharingan.

Naruto's Sharingan have two tomes and are a lighter shade of red than Sasuke's. He has been working with Kakashi a few weeks a month to activate it and he did about a week ago. He smiles at what he sees. His hypothesis is correct.

He deactivates the Sharingan before anybody notices and speaks very quietly to Haku.

"There is a Genjutsu on the test." Naruto flares his chakra to about 5 percent along with a small "Kai!" The Genjutsu breaks and reveals the real questions. Naruto's eyes go wide when he reads the questions. These questions are made for experienced Jonin level ninjas.

Next to him, he feels Haku discretely dispel the Genjutsu too.

"What are we going to do? We can't answer these." She whispers.

Naruto thinks for a second before mentally slapping himself. They have a Bijuu who has lived several human life spans on their team. He holds up a finger to tell her to wait a second before he opens the link to Kiyomi.

"_Hey, I assume that you already dispelled the Genjutsu?" _ he asks.

He gets a chuckle of amusement back from her. _"Do you even have to ask?"_

He inwardly smiles. This is going to be fun. _"How about a little help with the questions. I assume that you know the answers, seeing how you have lived several human lifetimes."_

"_You know what they say, 'when you assume, it makes an ass out of you and me', but in this case, you are correct, but that isn't the point of the test."_

Naruto is startled. Not the point?

He hears her sigh. _"Think back to the rules. What do most institutions do when they catch you cheating?"_

"_They take your test and fail you immediately. What does that have to do with… oh, I get it."_ He can feel her mental smirk. He slaps himself mentally for not noticing it earlier.

"I think we are supposed to cheat to get the answers. Why else would they not immediately fail us for getting caught?" he informs Haku. She nods her head and runs through a few hand signs under the table and whispers something.

The temperature in the room drops slightly and Naruto notices small mirrors forming near the ceiling. He forms a few hand signs of his own under the table and puts a simple Genjutsu over each mirror to hide them from view. Two thin, but strong pieces of ice form from each corner of the mirror to her fingers, allowing her to rotate them how she wants.

"I'll move the mirrors, you write down the answers then I will copy off of you. What about Naomi?"

"She's fine. She has someone to cheat off of easily enough." Haku looks at him, wondering if they used their mental link to find that out. She knows they have one because they would both just stop interacting with anything and start off into space at the same time after training or when they would hang out.

Haku nods and begins to manipulate the mirrors according to Naruto's instructions, as the Genjutsu over them doesn't allow her to see them, just him. Almost immediately they find the Chuunin that is taking the test. Naruto smiles and begins to copy down the answers. The Chuunin only had 2 or 3 done by this time, but he is answering the questions at a consistent rate. During the time between each question, he confirms with Kiyomi if they are correct. Only one was incorrect and that was question 9. She doesn't tell Naruto the answer, just that it is wrong. Haku takes the mirror that is right over Kiyomi and Naruto begins to read the answer. But the mirror suddenly melts, dropping water onto her test, but she moves the test out of the way of the water.

Naruto narrows his eyes at her and he hears her laugh in his lead.

"_Nice try there. I knew you had a mirror right over me. Better luck next time."_

Naruto growls in annoyance.

"She melted the mirror. On to the next one. Get the one right over Neji or Hinata. They have the Byakugan so they should already be done."

Haku is shocked that she melted the mirror without her noticing. No one had melted one of her demonic ice mirrors before. She numbly goes through his request and after Naruto confers with Kiyomi, writes down the answer. She shakes herself out of her stupor.

Haku quickly writes down all his answers and releases her mirrors, they each close their booklets and wait. Next thing they know, 5 kunai are thrown onto various tables in front of people.

"Whoever just had a kunai thrown in front of them, are to leave the room immediately. You have been caught cheating 5 times and are now expelled from the exam. The teammates must also join leave as well," says Ibiki.

One kunai landed just beside Naruto. The ninja beside him has his eyes wide then down cast as the ninja quietly gets up and walks out of the room, his teammates following, no doubt glaring daggers at him. Naruto feels kind of sorry for the Grass Ninja. That team is followed by 4 others, half from Kiri and the other half from Iwa.

Then something clicks in Naruto's brain. A random thought so far out in left field, that even he doesn't even know where it came from.

'Kabuto had very detailed information on people. He wouldn't have those unless he was actively getting information on people. Lee's card was spot on and Lee has never taken the exam before. That means that he has looked through his file and I doubt the Hokage would just hand over the files on all the participating shinobi to him. He is a spy, who for, I don't know, but he may work for the man who took Kiyomi's kids.'

Said female feels Naruto's apprehension grow.

"_What's wrong?"_ she asks, her green eyes meet up with his blue.

Inside his head, there is a battle raging. He should tell her because she is his friend, but if he does, she might go off right in front of everybody right now and kill almost everyone in this room, maybe even in the city. He can't let that happen.

"_I'll tell you later."_ She eyes him, green turns to red for a second before going back. Naruto gulps. He knows that he is in for it later, but he will gladly take the beating to make sure nobody else gets caught in the crossfire.

"Alright you maggots. Pencils down! We will now begin the 10th question. But there are a few more rules for this question."

(read manga for rules)

"What? You can't do that! I know for a fact that there are people here talking the test again!" Kiba shouts. Naruto groans in annoyance. He already saw through the question when Ibiki told them the rules, his brain still working from Kiyomi's advice to listen and look for the reason behind the rules.

"Well, too bad you got me. My test equals my rules. If you don't like it then get the fuck out. Now those who wish to leave my do so now!" 5 people get up and they force their teammates to also get up and leave as well. Ibiki smirks. Now just 20 teams remain.

"Is that it? That's all that have the guts to take the final question? One that is far harder than the previous questions?"

Naruto looks around the room. He sees Hinata looking like she is going to raise her hand.

"I'm not giving in! I'm not going to run away like some scared dog with his tail between his legs!" Kiba yells as he slams his hands down on the desk. Kiyomi rolls her eyes at the mention that the dog is a male, but is pleased that he insulted himself by insinuating that male dogs run away.

'Damn. I almost got one more team.'

"Well then I have no choice but to inform you all that you… Pass!"

Most look around, bewildered at his statement, but before Kiba can shout out again, the window shatters as something rolls through it and lands on the ground. Two kunai fly from the rolled up thing on the floor and out stretches a banner while a short, purple haired woman is unrolled from the banner. She hits the ground with one knee on the ground, with her arms our behind her, her head lowered to the ground.

The banner then reads, "Dead Sexy and Deadly, Anko Mitarashi, Proctor of the Second Test of the Chuunin Exams".

Anko gets up from the ground and looks over the room.

"What the fuck Ibiki? You must be getting soft since you left so many. Oh well. By the time I'm done with you, less than half of you will go on to the next test."

Ibiki mumbles something that sounds like, "At least my parents didn't name me after a bean."

Anko turns and sends a glare at Ibiki. He sends one right back. The Genin can practically see the sparks fly between the two.

"As much as I like a good fight between lovers, how about we get on with the exam?" Kiyomi teases the two.

Anko turns and sends a kunai straight at Kiyomi's face. Anko had calculated the fact that she would, most likely, lean back to avoid the kunai. She did not however, calculate in that Kiyomi would catch it and send it right back. Anko barely avoids it and sends a clearly shocked look at Kiyomi, who just smirks.

Every guy in the room, except Naruto, collectively lets out a wolf call or whistle of amazement. Naruto feels like beating every one of them down into the ground. Kiyomi feels this through the seal and turns around and winks at him coyly.

"Um…alright. Head down to training field 44 for your next test in one hour. Maps are on back tables for those who don't know where it is," Anko says dumbly, her brain still in shock over what had just happened.

The teams file out of the room, most guys eying Kiyomi, despite her looks.

Said woman meets up with Haku and Naruto and they head out of the room discussing lunch.

Ibiki picks up the tests and reads some of the answers. He picks up Naruto's test. From the table, it looks like a normal test with all but the tenth question filled in, but once Ibiki touched it, it changes. All the boxes are empty except the one for the tenth question.

"_I can't trust many people with this. Take this to the Hokage immediately. _

_Kabuto is a spy. I don't know for sure, but he smells very strongly of snakes and I can only think of one person who would smell like that, besides Anko. Anyways, he has cards that once you feed chakra into them, they reveal information on a person. Very accurate information, information that isn't 2 weeks old and he had 50-60 of these cards. _

_I don't know what Orochimaru is going to do, but I have a strong bet that it has something to do in the next test._

_Uzumaki, Naruto"_

"Clean up here. I must see the Hokage." Ibiki orders. In a whirlwind, Ibiki disappears.

**(Time Skip-1 hour) Training Field 44 – The Forest of Death**

Naruto and company arrive at the field with just minutes to spare. They had eaten at Ichiraku's and both Naruto and Kiyomi had an enormous amount of ramen.

Before the group stands Anko.

"Alright. My name is Anko Mitarashi. I am your Proctor for this test."

(read manga for rules. Same scene minus the kunai thrown at Naruto)

"Alright. I will call one person from each team. That person will come forward with all three signed waivers. That person will then enter the tent and get either a Heaven scroll or and Earth scroll and given a gate number. Remember, once you have both do not open them."

"Since I like bending the rules, I will start at the back. Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto steps forward and hands Anko their waivers. Anko points him to the tent. As Naruto passes, Anko smacks him on the ass and when he turns for an explanation, she just winks at him. He grumbles and goes into the tent. He receives a Heaven scroll and quickly puts into his empty storage seal to hide it from those who can look through walls.

He walks and signals for Kiyomi and Haku to follow him. They go to gate 9 and await for the gate to open. Naruto situates himself on the ground when he feels something digging into his ass. He feels around inside the pocket and feels a piece of wadded up paper. Not remembering when he put it there, he takes it out and unravels it.

"_Thank you for the heads up. I will have Anbu and other Jonin patrolling the area around the forest and in the canopies. Good luck._

_Hiruzen."_

"What have you got there Naruto?" Haku asks.

Deciding not to lie but not telling them everything, he tosses the paper into the air and destroys it with a small wind jutsu.

"The Hokage wishing my good luck. That is why Anko slapped me in the ass."

Kiyomi, while not showing it outwardly, knows he isn't telling the whole truth. Why else would he have destroyed the message? Clearly Naruto doesn't want the two women to read it. She decides to call him out on it.

"_What else was in that message that you aren't telling us?" _

'Crap. She noticed. Well, no point in putting my life in danger. I might as well tell her the truth, but only once we get into the forest.'

"_I'll tell you inside the forest. We will excuse ourselves so we can talk. Trust me on this. My way is so you won't get in trouble."_

She glares at him, but having no way to convince him, she leaves it alone…for now. She doesn't like it when Naruto hides things from her. After being completely honest and opening up with Naruto, she feels slightly hurt.

They wait 10 more minutes in silence before the gates slowly swing open and the three enter the forest.

Once inside, Naruto asks Haku for a second alone with "Naomi". Not really understanding why, she just shrugs and decides to do some scouting.

Once she leaves, Kiyomi grabs Naruto's throat and squeezes slightly.

"**You will tell me now."** She commands.

"Alright. I was planning on telling you. I wanted to do it in here because once we start anything you do is legal.

"It came to me like a bolt of lightning. Kabuto is a spy. He has carefully collected and accurate information on people. Plus he smells like a snake. Put two and two together and what do you get?"

Kiyomi's eyes go wide instantly. Anger and rage release from her like a geyser. Her eyes become red slits and her features become feral. Fearing for her well-being, Naruto throws his arms around her and hugs her to him. It has the effect he wants. She stops emitting KI and her features return to normal.

"I completely understand if you want to kill him, but you must do it carefully. The note said that Anbu and Jonin are patrolling the forest because Orochimaru might be here. You can't let them see you with your chakra or your features out or they will attack you too."

She stares at him, not used to this level of thoughtfulness and concern for her well-being. She looks Naruto square in the eyes.

"**I will kill the son of a bitch. I don't care if the whole world sees me, in fact it would probably be better if the whole world saw it and feared me enough to leave me alone. I will have my revenge and I will find out what happened to my kits."**

Naruto nods. "That's fine. You should go off and find Kabuto since we don't know for sure if Orochimaru is hear or not. Get some answers and do what you want with him. Haku and I will grab an Earth scroll and wait for you at the tower. Just keep in mind that others may be watching, OK?"

Kiyomi nods and in a flash, she is gone. Naruto sighs. "Happy hunting."

Naruto jumps into a tree and goes after Haku.

It proves to be not that hard of a task. He finds her a few hundred yards away, looking at a one sided fight between Suna and a group of Kiri ninjas. He moves next to her and they watch as Gaara completely destroys the Kiri. One by one, he crushes them with his sand before the sand goes back into the gourd on his back.

Naruto watched in fascination as each attack made by the Kiri was blocked by a wall of sand. Kunai, taijutsu, ninjutsu, kenjutsu all had the same result. The wall seemed to rise on its own, like something else was controlling it. Naruto wonders what is could be before remembering that Gaara has the Ichibi sealed into him, whose specialty is sand (earth + wind).

The Suna nin move on and a red flash and Kiyomi is beside them. She is covered in gore.

"Here. Now we have our scrolls." She hands Naruto an Earth scroll.

"Where did you get this and why are you covered in blood?" Haku asks.

Kiyomi shrugs. "I ran into your Iwa friends, Naruto, and they seemed intent on 'teaching me a lesson'. So I killed them and took their scroll." Naruto shivers at her emotionless and uncaring tone. He notices that she is much more relaxed than a few minutes before.

Another red flash and she disappears.

"Where did she go?" Haku asks.

Naruto looks at her as he seals away the second scroll in the other pouch. "She has a personal…vendetta to settle with another shinobi. I told her that we would wait for her at the tower."

Haku is taken aback. "Shouldn't we help her? Aren't you the least bit concerned about her?"

"Of course I am concerned, but if you hadn't noticed, she can handle herself," he nearly shouts. Realizing his tone of voice, he backs it down a lot. "She wants, no she needs to do this on her own. A long time ago, she lost something very precious to her and now one of the people who are responsible has a representative here, so she is going to pay him a little visit."

Haku looks at him. "Are you going to elaborate or just leave off with that very cryptic answer?"

Naruto shakes his head. "It isn't my story to tell. I just got her a few weeks ago to tell me and I have known her for most of my life."

Haku takes in this new information.

'He talks as if she is older than him, I mean like at least 10 years older. I wonder what it could be?'

"Come on. I don't want to stay here and get caught by another team."

Naruto and Haku take off towards the tower before a team can set up a trap.

**(Time Skip-6 hours) Tower in Training Field 44**

Naruto and Haku relax on the tower. They have been there for 4 hours already and seen 2 teams already pass. Apparently you have to open both scrolls at the same time, here in the tower to pass. A red flash and Kiyomi appears in front of them. She is covered head to foot in dry and new blood and has a very wicked smile on her face.

"Shall we finish this?" she asks.

Naruto and Haku get up and Naruto gets the scrolls from his pouch. Handing one to Haku, they both open them at the same time.

Before them materializes Kakashi. He takes a look around to make sure that all three are there. His eyes fall on Kiyomi and just how much blood she has on her. Kakashi has to suppress the urge to throw up.

"Um… congratulations on passing the Second Test. If you look on the wall…"

"We got it already, Shi-chan. Haku and I have been here for hours and we heard what the other instructors said, so you can pass on that."

Kakashi gives a nod. "You may rest until the next round. There are rooms for each of you. The forest us now off limits. If you leave the tower before the next test, you will be disqualified. Any questions?" He gets none.

"Good, then off you go. Oh and Naruto, you were right. He was here. Anko was nearly killed by him."

Kiyomi's eyes go wide.

"Where is that son of a bitch?" Kiyomi more growls than asks.

Kakashi shrugs. "He got away. Despite having Anbu all over the place, he slipped through our fingers. I doubt he is here anymore."

Naruto pokes Kiyomi's arm, feeling her anger roll of off her. "There will be another time. You need a shower and new clothes."

She eyes Kakashi once more before nodding and the three of them walk into the tower as Kakashi disappears.

* * *

End Chapter 6

Words:6,481

Total Words:42,739

Date Released: 1/15/11

AN: I'm setting up scenes for the future. Kyuubi is going to have a lot of fun. Making Kyuubi bloodthirsty again. Easy to forget that she is a age old Bijuu, so I'm reasserting the pain and blood loving side back to balance out the emotional kyuubi in previous chapters.

I took out a scene where kyuubi teases Naruto more that leads to kyuubi confessing that she is very close to just jumping because she hasn't had sex in 15 years. Add that to the hormones of Naruto's puberty effecting her, she is very hard pressed to control herself. I took it out because it was advancing their relationship way too quickly.

As always, review and please read over the author's comments before asking me. You might find your question already answered.

If you are interested in a Naru/Kyuu then check out my new story entitled The Throne of Power. Just go to my profile and check it out.

Until next time,

tomhunt98


	7. Chapter 7: Exam Finals

/*

A/N: Sorry folks, but I can't make it so Sakura gets Naruto first. She will remain one of two people who get Naruto, but I cannot stop this story from progressing with Kyuubi getting Naruto first. The story writes itself and I won't deny the story what the story needs to keep it going. Don't worry; you will meet Sakura in within the next two updates.

A very big shout out to DevilKeys Writing for informing writers on how to get past the "Error 2" when trying to upload a chapter. To get past it, change "property" with "content" on the web address. It worked for me, so it may work for you.

*/

_"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke_

**Chapter 7: Exam Finals**

**Tower, 8 hours after the start of the Second Test**

Kiyomi walks down the hall, nothing but a towel around her "Naomi" form. She saunters down the hall towards her room, making sure to swing her thin hips and almost non-existent ass. She opens her door and finds Naruto in her room, reading a book on the couch across from her bed.

Each room is the size of Naruto's apartment. They all have a couch, a kitchenette, a large tv, a dresser, and a queen sized bed. Naruto has turned the couch around and is now facing the bed.

"**You know. Most women would be killing you right now for being in their room while they are naked."**

Naruto doesn't even look up.

"Yeah I know, but you're hardly a normal woman and besides, I've seen you naked plenty of times."

Kiyomi stalks over to him. As she does so, she shifts into real self. She lets the straining towel fall to the ground and tries to get in his lap, but Naruto isn't having any of that. He fends her off, making her pout.

"**Aww, does Naru-kun not want me?"** she says seductively.

Naruto sighs. There is no getting around this game with her. "It isn't that, but I didn't come here to have sex nor are the walls padded enough for such activities. I actually came here to ask what happened in the forest after you gave Haku and I the Earth scroll."

She gives a very satisfied grin at remembering what she did. She walks away and suddenly she has on a tight, white t-shirt with a loose collar and a pair of booty shorts on that say, "Slap That!" She finds a seat on her bed and turns to him, her red eyes glowing in glee.

"**Well, sit back because it is a very good story."**

**Flashback-Forest of Death**

***This scene has graphic torture, so if you don't want to read it, skip to the end of the flashback***

She moves around from place to place, searching for her target. More than once, she has come across a Genin team and ignored them. For another hour, she searches and is getting frustrated. She stops when she smells something that doesn't belong in the forest. A musky order and then hears something below the tree she is currently on and looks down. She sees a two brunette males and a blond from Takigakure, judging by their Hitai-ate.

Both males are pounding into the Kunoichi. One male on bottom, the girls average breasts in his face, while the other guy rams into her ass. The girl gives off a silent scream as the male in her ass suddenly pulls out and sprays his sperm all over her back. The one on bottom keeps going after a few more minutes, the other male enters her ass again and leans over and begins to fondle her breasts.

'Well, no time like the present, I guess.'

Kyuubi prepare to jump when she feels a chakra surge. It is large, much larger than a Genin should be able to make. She jumps off immediately in the direction it came from, leaving her voyeurism behind.

Ten minutes later, she slows, her hunter instincts taking over. She checks the wind and approaches from downwind and slowly creeps towards her prey. She shifts into a one tailed, grey fox form. She pokes her head out of a bush and sees a battlefield.

The area is covered in water and craters. She sees Kabuto in a fight against a Kiri-nin. The others from both teams are out of commission, but the Leaf team is still conscious. She quickly decides to watch the match to gauge Kabuto's abilities.

The two dance around each other. The Kiri-nin has out a sword and is trying to skewer Kabuto who is trying to find an opening. After a minute, the Kiri guy over extended himself and Kabuto shifts around him and places his hands at the base of his ankles. The man drops like a sack of potatoes.

Kiyomi's eyes go wide. 'Those were chakra scalpels. It looks like Naruto was right. That technique is way too advanced for a Genin to know, much less have the chakra control to use them. But he is breathing rather hard, meaning that he is tired or he isn't wanting to show his true skills.'

Kabuto's teammates move out of the brush to get healed at Kabuto severs the spine at the base of the neck, ending the man's career and possibly his life. Kiyomi sees her chance and acts.

First she shifts back into her Naomi form and steps forward into the clearing. The three see her, but with the Konoha Hitai-ate, they lower their guard. Who would be afraid of a skinny 14 year old girl? She steps forward and grins evilly. Kabuto sees the grin and starts to sweat, knowing a bloodthirsty grin when he sees it.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

She reaches into her sleeves and pulls out some ninja wire. She takes it and stretches it between her hands, having about two and a half feet of wire between her hands. Seeing this, Kabuto's teammates, now listed at Idiot #1 and Idiot #2 laugh at her.

"What are you going to do with that? Is the little girl going to tie us up?" they taunt. Her grin only intensifies at what is about to happen. Kabuto sees this and calls out a warning.

Or that's what would have happened if he had the chance. Suddenly the girl disappears. No blur, no afterimage. Just gone. Suddenly she reappears back in her original spot, the wire held out in front of her. Kabuto gets a sinking feeling in his stomach only for Idiots # 1 and 2 to _explode_ in a shower of gore and chunks of man meat, bathing both Kabuto and the girl completely. The girl licks some of the blood off the back of her hand, before spitting it back out like it is a vile and poisonous substance.

She had done that with ninja wire. A thin piece of metal designed to capture, detain, or make traps. Se had run _through_ them, not once but hundreds of times in the time it takes to blink. A thin piece of wire had done that. He doesn't want to even imagine the speed it would take to make that happen.

Kabuto stares at the girl in horror. "What…what are you?"

She glares at him, her eyes shifting her green eyes to demonic red. **"I'm your worst nightmare."**

Kabuto, having dealt with life and death situations before, snaps out of his stupor. He activates his chakra scalpels and rushes her will all his speed, hoping to killer her or subdue her for questioning. He appears in front of her and slices at her, blood flying everywhere. She backpedals, her chest bleeding from a deep wound. Kabuto presses his advantage. He keeps on her, forcing her to retreat while holding her wound, trying to make it stop. Suddenly, she trips over a rock that she didn't see and begins to fall backwards.

He sees this and with a burst of speed, pins her to a tree and uses his scalpels to slice the tendons on her wrists and ankles then severing the spinal column from her body. He then ties her up using her own ninja wire, spreading her out. Breathing hard, he takes a step back.

"Now…you are going to tell me who and what you are."

Kiyomi smirks as she melts away into mud. Kabuto curses as he feels a flare of…something behind him. It wasn't chakra, but something else. Something more primal, something thicker, something more powerful than chakra. He spins around to see the same woman going through hand signs faster than he can keep up with, but ended on the tiger seal.

"**Onnetsusei: Hosaki Shiroi no Kami!"** (Thermal Release: White Flames of God!)

Flames hotter than anything he has ever witnessed or even heard of shoot across the gap between the two within a second.

Kiyomi stands there after launching her attack, waiting for the snake to crawl out of its hiding place. She felt the shunshin, she knows he is still alive. How much damage he took before getting out of there is another question. True to her prediction, Kabuto stumbles out of the brush nearby, holding his left arm and breathing very heavily. It is completely charred black and unmoving.

Before he can start healing his arm, if he can heal something that is dead, Kiyomi grabs him by his throat and lifts him with ease. She tosses him like a rag doll into a very small clearing. Kabuto, feeling worse than he ever has, sits up. He has to get away. He has no idea who this girl is, but she clearly isn't normal judging from the sub-element and what she channeled.

Kabuto slowly stands up after failing a few times and begins to walk away. He gets two steps before Kiyomi appears in front of him, her ninja wire in her hands. Kabuto resigns himself to death, knowing that there is no way he can beat her, might as well take her out with him. He starts channeling chakra to begin his suicide jutsu. Just as he gets to the last hand seal, Kiyomi disappears.

Next thing Kabuto knows, he is strung up like a doll, each of his limbs tied to a tree and away from each other.

"**Now, now. I can't have you killing yourself just yet. I have more fun to have,"** a voice comes from behind him.

Kiyomi stalks in front of him, dragging a sharpened nail across his shirt, cutting into him. As she goes full circle, the shirt falls, revealing his bare torso.

"**Now the real fun begins."**

She takes his right hand and gently takes into her own. She spreads apart the fingers and takes his index finger into one of her hands. She gently scrapes along the top of this finger until she gets to the nail, where she stops. She flashes him a grin before _tearing_ the entire nail out of his finger. He screams.

She repeats the process for the rest of the fingers and saves him thumb for last. The biggest nail on the hand means more nerves, which means more pain. Once she is finished with the right hand, she moves in front of him and looks him directly in the eyes.

"**I want to know everything you know about Orochimaru and I want it now. We can do this the short way or we can do this the fun way. Either way I get my answers. It is only a matter of how much fun I get to have and how quickly you die."**

Kabuto tilts his head back before spitting on her face.

"Fuck you. You won't get any information out me. I am Lord Orochimaru's right hand man. I won't betray that trust."

Kiyomi nods her head in understanding as she wipes the spit off her face. **"Very well, more fun for me. Just so you know, of the many _centuries_ that I've lived, no one has withstood me."**

Kabuto gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. Centuries of experience in torture? Just what is this woman?

Kiyomi moves to the left side of his body. **"I've always wanted to do this, but everyone else died too quickly."**

She takes her ninja wire, which was at his upper bicep instead of the wrist, and slides it up his arm, making the charred flesh scrap off, revealing red and extremely tender muscle underneath, eliciting an agonizing scream. The scrapped off flesh falls to the ground in a sickening, wet *spat*. Kabuto's body now shakes in an attempt to relieve the massive amounts of burning that his muscles are doing.

"**That definitely was fun, but I can't have you dying."**

She puts her finger up to Kabuto's forehead and pushes yoki into his system, rapidly regenerating his more grievous wounds and replenishing his blood supply, but at a cost. The yoki is frying his body. His nervous system and his chakra coils feel like they are being dissolved. He struggles to suppress another scream of agony, but is unsuccessful.

"**Mmmmmm…music to my ears. It's been too long since I've heard the screams of pain and fear. Oh, it brings back my happy memories."**

She stops her yoki, his body being sufficiently healed to keep him alive.

"**Do I need to continue or are you willing to talk now?"**

Kabuto weakly raises his head and stares her in the eyes, defiantly holding his information. "You won't break me, wench. When Lord Orochimaru catches you, you will beg for mercy."

Kiyomi growls and takes a sharpened nail under his chin, forcing him to look her right in the eyes. **"Look here you little cockroach. Orochimaru is nothing compared to me. He is in insect trapped in a spider web. There is nothing he can do to keep me from getting to him. And when I find him it will not be a quick death. I will make what I do here look like child's play."**

Kiyomi quickly resumes her torturing and after an hour, several new layers of blood, and a whole lot of screaming later she has her information.

**End Flashback**

"**So, he died after I got the information while sending a message to his boss."**

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at her. "Oh? How and what message did you send him?"

She strikes a thinking pose. **"Oh I left him strung up in the forest with a message carved in his chest."**

Naruto waits for her to finish, but when she doesn't he prompts her again. "So, what did the message say?"

She gives him a fierce glower. **"'Don't mess with my children.'"**

Naruto nods and shivers slightly. "Remind me not to make you mad in the future."

She gets up and leans over as she puts a hand on his shoulder, giving him a good view down her shirt. **"You don't have anything to fear from me. You are one of the few people I truly trust. I won't do anything to you…well, not anything too bad. Nothing you won't enjoy."**

Naruto suppresses another shiver at her musky tone.

"So…what information did you get out of Kabuto?" he asks quickly, hoping to change the subject. She pouts slightly but backs off. She wants to have sex with him, but isn't going to force him into it. Sex is much more…enjoyable when the other person is willing.

"**Well, I got his hide outs, the fact that he is the current Kage of Otogakure, how many shinobi he has underneath him, his more important experiments, and his top shinobi. All in all a pretty good haul of information. I think their might have been more, but he died before I could get it out of him. Just getting as much as I did took a good hour and most of that was getting him to divulge the information."**

Naruto is about to say something sarcastic when a knocking at the door disrupts their conversation. Kiyomi huffs at the interruption but gets up none-the-less. She changes into her Naomi form with a fluffy bath robe over her body.

She opens the door and finds Haku shifting uncomfortably.

"Uh, hi Naomi-san. I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

"Naomi" blinks for a few seconds but nods. She doesn't offer to let Haku in, secretly enjoying watching the younger woman squirm.

"I…uh…well you see…" Haku sighs and steels her nerves. "Naruto told me you had some personal issue to "deal with" while in the Forest of Death but wouldn't tell me anymore than that and I was wondering if I could…know what it was." Haku's voice grew smaller and smaller the longer she talked until she is almost whispering.

Kiyomi eyes her from behind false green eyes. "No."

Haku's head, which was pointed at the ground, snaps up. "What do you mean 'no'?"

Kiyomi rolls her eyes. "No. As in access denied, 'a refusal', 'a negative response'. Need I continue the list of definitions?"

Haku stares at Kiyomi in disbelief. She didn't expect to be told after what Naruto had told her about "Naomi's" trust issues, but this is downright malicious.

Kiyomi sighs. Perhaps she was being a bit hard, but what right did she have nosing into her business? She has known "Naomi" for about a month. Seeing the very hurt look on Haku's face, she decides to let her down a little softer.

"Look, it's not that you are untrustworthy, but I have known you for a month. One month, thirty-one days. It took me twelve _years_ to tell Naruto and I trust him more than anyone. I don't trust people with my secrets until I know personally that I can trust them. No offense, but you're a long way from that.

"Now if you don't mind, I am rather tired after today's events and would like to rest."

The dismissal was clear, there is nothing left to do but leave. Haku somberly walks away from Kiyomi's room before said demoness slips back into her room.

"Going soft?"

She whips around to see Naruto fixing her with a hard stare.

"**It is none of your business."** She flings herself onto her bed, not bothering to change back into her other form and crawls under the blankets of her bed.

Naruto raises an eyebrow. "Whatever, but just so you know, you can't keep pushing people away like that. Not if you don't want to end up alone."

Kiyomi sits up and snarls at him. Who was he to threaten her? He who she bared her soul to would leave her over some girl who doesn't have the right to ask?

"**I thought you of all would understand. Maybe I was wrong in choosing someone so shallow."**

Naruto rounds on her. "I'm not the one pushing people away. I'm just wondering how long it is before you start to push me away like that once more of your secrets come out!" he nearly shouts waving his arms for emphasis.

Kiyomi, for the first time in a very long time, is truly stunned. How could he think that?

Naruto sees the look on her face and softens his tone and glare. "I see how defensive you get when accused of something, when you feel threatened, when things aren't going your way. You can and are with everyone except me and my mother very harsh and violent with your words and attitude and even then you give us the cold shoulder often. The truth is your running away.

"From the way you act, it seems to me that you don't want anyone getting close, to discover all your secrets, especially the ones hidden under years of lies and deceit. I think you are afraid of what happens when someone does find out.

"You see…I know you better than anybody and I can read right through that though act you put up. Deep down you want companionship, you want someone to love you back, but your secrets keep you from getting close to anyone. Hell, if it wasn't for our forced arrangement, you probably would have skipped over me without taking a second glance. But you approached me with an offer of getting stronger to benefit yourself but you let someone in, a child no less, but it was a start. I haven't regretted getting to know you once. Well, I haven't really been serious in regretting meeting you.

"But what really scares you isn't letting someone in; it's rejection that has you so scared. You fear that once you finally let someone in, past all the doubt and confusion, that once they know the truth that they will run away, curse you, leave you standing there and never looking back."

Kiyomi doesn't move, doesn't blink, doesn't have any kind of physical movement. She wouldn't be breathing if it required cognizant thought. Is what he is saying true?

Naruto, never having been in this situation before, gulps in fear and hopes she doesn't kill him. Kiyomi, wrapped in her thoughts doesn't notice when Naruto sits on her bed. She stiffens when she feels a pair of arms wrap around her.

"You're not going to scare me away. I'm not going anywhere. I will always be grateful for your guidance and advice and training. Nothing will ever change that."

Kiyomi nod, but pushes him away.

"**Naruto…I can't."**

Naruto quirks an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to finish.

"**I…you've given me a lot to think about but, I can't be a lover, not to you."**

She draws her knees to up and rests her arms and chin on it. She gives a bitter laugh at her thoughts. **"Sure I temp and tease, but to actually love and be loved back…I just can't. I've had countless sexual partners but the moment I want to let someone in I give into my fear."**

Naruto nods. "Alright." He gives her a fake smile. "I'll still be your friend and I'll still listen. Although I would be lying if I said I understood why not." He lets the smile drop a little.

She hears the disappointment in his voice. He moves to get off her bed, but her hand shoots out to stop him.** "Please understand…It's not like I don't want to, but…" **she trails off. Her eyes are unfocused and a distant look on her face.** "I don't want to find someone and then…watch them die in front of me. I can't go through that. I can't and won't do that to myself. If you were like me, I wouldn't hesitate, but as it is, I would only be dooming myself for a lifetime of suffering."**

Now he gets it. He will live, granted longer than most due to his Jinchuuriki status and Uzumaki longevity, but not like her. She will only die one: if the world ends, two: if someone kills her which is highly unlikely, or three: if she chooses to die. He doesn't have that choice. Eventually she will have to watch him wither and die, leaving her alone in the world. She may want sex from him, but now it would be impossible to not enter a relationship if they had sex.

He takes her hand in his. "Look, I can't pretend to know what it is like to be immortal and not be able to die of old age. I can't tell you how to get around it. But I can tell you that you should live life to its fullest, without regrets without doubts. I just don't want you to look back on this and wonder 'what if'."

She takes in his words and nods her head. **"I will…think about what you have said."**

He clearly hears the dismissal in her tone and her want to be left alone right now. "I'm glad. If you need me or want to talk more, you know where to find me."

With that he gets up and walks out her door and down the hall. He too has a good deal to think about as well.

**Time Skip-5 days**

With the conclusion of the Second Test, the passing students all gather in the hall. Naruto counts the number to be 21 Genin. He stands between Haku and Kiyomi, who hasn't talked to him since their "heart to heart". Naruto doesn't mind. He will wait until she is ready to talk.

"Congratulations on making it to…" Naruto blocks out Sarutobi's speech about youth and war. Honestly, he doesn't care. He looks about the room. He spots his mother standing next to the Hokage's chair. When he does, she gives him a small wave, which he returns with the raising of his eyebrows. He notices a lot of Anbu around, a lot more than he was expecting, but with Orochimaru still around, he guesses that they don't want to risk anything.

"If anyone does not wish to participate or is unable to, raise your hand."

Naruto is thrown out of his musings when Kiyomi raises her hand.

"Naomi Hitake is eliminated from the preliminaries. Now the…" Naruto again drones out the speaker, deciding to engage Kiyomi in conversation.

"_What are you doing?" _Naruto_ asks her._

"_Duh! The more chakra I use the more likely it is that I'll be discovered. Besides, "Naomi" is only there to help you out and isn't actually in a village to go up in rank. My alternate identity has no reason to keep in the Exams since it is now individually based."_

Naruto nods his head in understanding. He looks up as an electronic board slides out of the ceiling and two names come up on the screen.

(AN: Most of the fights will be cannon or skipped over. I don't feel like putting in each and every fight. I will go over a summary of each fight that isn't cannon)

"Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi remain on the floor, everyone else go to the stands." A loud 'Troublesome' along with a 'Why do I have to fight women all the time?' That results in a slap upside his head by Ino.

Naruto and company move to the stands and take a seat next to Team 9.

(Cannon Fight)

Winner: Shikamaru Nara!

Next on the board: Aburame Shino vs. Zaku Abumi

(Cannon Fight)

"Winner: Aburame Shino!"

"Winner: Temari!"

"Winner: Gaara!"

"Winner: Neji Hyuuga!"

Naruto is seething. He knew Neji had a stick up his ass, but never one big enough to try to kill his cousin. He had tried to get Hinata to believe in herself, but no amount of cheering would be able to pick up for years of verbal abuse.

So far the matches were pretty good. Shikamaru and Shino both outsmarted their opponents without showing too much of their abilities. Tenten had been mismatched to begin with. Interestingly enough, Gaara was pitted against his teammate Kankuro, who made the wise decision to forfeit immediately.

The board scrolls again: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Yamanaka Ino.

Said blond haired girl looks over at Naruto and gulps. She remembers that A-Rank jutsu of pure chakra at her house and knows that she stands no chance what-so-ever. She slowly moves to the arena when Shikamaru stops her for a second.

"Whatever you do, don't use _that _jutsu."

Ino frowns, but nods and continues on her way towards the center.

Naruto on the inside is panicking slightly.

'Damn. Out of all my opponents, it had to be her. If she uses her body switching technique and sees and empty cage we are fucked.'

"_Calm down! I'll excuse myself on the basis of going to the bathroom and I'll poof into the seal."_

Naruto quickly agrees. Kiyomi stops Naruto before going over the rail, squirming slightly.

"Are you ok Naomi-chan?" he asks with fake concern.

"Yeah I'm fine, but I really have to go to the bathroom. You don't mind me missing your match do you?"

Naruto shakes his head. Naomi jumps up and down with enthusiasm but quickly stops and beelines it for the nearest bathroom. Naruto chuckles at her, but for a different reason than people think. The great Kyuubi reduced to doing the potty dance is highly amusing to him.

"_Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Keep it up and you will be disqualified," _Kiyomi says as she pops back into the seal.

Naruto's eyes widen and he quickly joins Ino in the ring. When he looks at Ino, she looks like she is about to give up right then and there. Since Kiyomi is safely back in the seal, Naruto at least wants her to try.

"_Hold on, I think I have a way of breaking her out of this whole fan girl thing or at least get her to lighten up. Something that will work to both our advantage."_

"_Oh, and what do you have in mind?"_

"_Here's the plan…"_

Ino starts to put her hand up when Naruto's voice cuts across the field.

"Hey Ino-san, I have a proposal to make. How about we each do one jutsu. No dodging. If at the end of that and we are still standing then we go into a straight Taijutsu match. How does that sound?"

Ino for her part isn't so sure. She saw that jutsu and vividly remembers the power it gave off. She only knows one technique that can end it, but even that she doesn't know.

"I at least want you to try Ino-san. You're already out here so why not? No harm in trying. I'll even let you go first."

He has her there. While he can probably kill her, she highly doubt he would, judging by his reaction by Neji nearly killing Hinata.

"Alright, I'll go when the proctor starts the match."

The proctor sweat drops. "Ino-san, I started the match three minutes ago."

That startles Ino. She begins to form hand signs before landing on one that is specific for her clan.

"**Shintenshin no Jutsu!**" (Mind Body Switch Technique!)

**Naruto's Mindscape**

Ino finds herself inside Naruto's mind. That's not right. She should be looking out of Naruto's eyes right at her body. So why is she inside his mind and not controlling it?

"You're wondering why you don't have control of my body right now, right?" a voice comes from behind her.

She whirls around and sees Naruto there.

"Yeah I am. And what the hell is this place?"

Naruto chuckles. "You know, for being a mind expert, you sure don't know a lot about the mind. This is my mindscape. A visual representation of my mind and how it works. From here I can access my memories, my limbs, my nervous system, anything that has to do with the mind like the regulation of how fast my heart beats naturally.

"But that aside, we have limited time here. Follow me."

Ino frowns as Naruto begins to walk off, not even looking back to see if she is following. Seeing how she has nothing better to do and would rather not get lost in someone else's mind, she follows.

After a thirty second walk, she finds herself in front of a massive cage. Curiosity gets the better of her and she moves forward until she is right in front of the cage. Suddenly a blur from behind the cage forces her back and Kyuubi slams against the bars, snarling and clawing at her. She tries to make to run away but stops when Naruto puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

After a small smile, he walks forward towards Kyuubi, much to Ino's horror.

"What the hell are you doing? That thing will eat you alive!"

Naruto doesn't stop and Kyuubi moves all nine of its tails and envelops Naruto, blocking him from Ino's view. She waits for the blood curling scream but it never comes. Suddenly the tails move and Naruto is standing on one of them as it moves him into the air.

"Ino meet Kyuubi. I have made an agreement with Kyuubi so that is why it is not attacking me, but that isn't the reason we are here. We are here to discuss you.

"You see, I'm rather tired of your fan-girl habits and you not taking your job seriously. Let me ask you some questions.

"One: If Sasuke somehow decided to accept your "affection" would he return it like you wanted? Would he come home and ask how your day was? Would he hug you and tell you how much he missed you? Would he tell you that he was thinking about you? Would he wrap his arms around you and tell you that you are the most important thing in the world to him?

"Two: What kind of father would he be? Would he openly love your children? Raise them to the best of his abilities? Would he tuck them into bed and read them stories? Would he spend time with them and want to hear what they have to say? Or would he dump them on you to raise while he does very little?

"Three: What kind of future do you see with him? Would you be happy with someone who ignores you? Would you be ok with sharing him with other woman who may not love him? If you were afraid would he hold you and tell you that everything is going to be alright? Would he comfort you and be your support in a time of need or would he just tell you you're weak and unworthy of him?"

Naruto looks at Ino. She herself is about ready to cry from Naruto's harsh words. He sighs in exasperation. Kyuubi lets him down on the ground where Naruto walks up to Ino and grasps her shoulders lightly. She looks up at him with swimming eyes. Whether it is because she realizes he is right or something else he doesn't know.

"Look Ino-san, I'm not telling you that Sasuke is wrong for you or that he is a bad guy, but I am asking if he would ever love you the way you want to be loved. I will leave it at that, but if you can't answer that, then you have to ask yourself if he makes you happy to overcome all the bad things with will come with life.

"I'm not saying this to be a bad guy, but as a friend. I don't want to see someone get hurt their entire life because of a crush that is only skin deep."

Kyuubi growls softly. "Our time is up. Think about what I said. Oh, and keep old fur ball here a secret as it is an S-Rank secret and you will be killed if you tell anyone."

Ino, still highly in shock over many things, nods her head mechanically as she starts to fade.

**Chuunin Exam Field**

The crowd is not patient. It never was and never will be. Jeers and insults are hurled at the boring "battle" along with calls to just call the match a draw. The smarter ninja know what is really going on: a battle of minds and wills.

The crowd grows more impatient, but just when they are about to be ejected by the proctor, Ino stirs followed quickly by Naruto. Ino gets to her feet and gives him a small smile.

"Just don't make it hurt too much."

Naruto nods. He takes out Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi (Sword of the Demon Fox), much to the crowd's horror. The demon is going to slash down a defenseless girl!

Before someone can protest, they feel the wind pick up. Asuma, who is sitting with his team, looks on with interest. He didn't know that there was another wind user in Konoha. The wind grows more violent as the seconds pass by. Suddenly a tornado fires out of the top of Tenma, aiming right for the ceiling. Debris fly around the room.

Even still the wind picks up. Naruto concentrates, condensing the attack. The tornado visibly shrinks, but the winds only intensify. It grows smaller and smaller until it isn't visible to the naked eye. One would think that the attack failed had it not been for the _still_ raging winds. Ino gulps again, but she agreed not to dodge his attack.

Naruto has sweat pouring down his face as he takes Tenma and _flicks_ it. "**Fūton: Atsugai!**" (Wind Release: Pressure Damage!)

The source of the air currents shifts from the top of his black katana to the air, flying right at Ino. It takes all her courage not to move out of the way, fighting to not listen to her instincts. The invisible tornado impacts her chest, but Ino doesn't feel a thing. The winds die down and she is left standing. She begins to hope that all that was just a show.

Until an explosion of wind chakra envelops her. She screams, but it is lost to the howling winds. A dome about ten feet wide of pure wind so thick nobody could see through it completely covers her. After thirty seconds people begin to doubt if she is even alive.

All of a sudden, a blur shoots out of the dome at speeds a Jonin couldn't even compare to. The object now identified as Ino, rockets towards the wall. She makes no attempt to right herself or brace her landing. Asuma curses and prepares to shunshin to protect her when a blond blur intercepts her as she is about to hit the wall.

Naruto slides down the wall using chakra, Ino in his arms. Medics rush onto the scene, preparing to declare her dead right then and there. Once Naruto reaches the ground he hands her over to the medics who start medical jutsu immediately.

"Don't worry she is just knocked out. The wind dome sucked all the air out and as soon as I felt her lose consciousness, I used a compressed burst of air to throw her out of the wind dome."

The head medic looks up in amazement. "He's right. She has a few cuts and a bruise forming on her torso, but completely fine."

Naruto nods and turns to the proctor, whose mouth is agape.

"Um…are you going to call the match?"

The proctor shakes the cobwebs out of his head.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

With that Naruto returns to his seat, everyone has eyes on him, even his mother. She had no idea he know how to do that, much less without hand seals.

As Naruto takes his seat, Asuma walks up to him. "I would like to thank you for not killing my student. I know she doesn't train as much as she should." Naruto nods. "I was also wondering how you did that technique. You didn't use any hands signs."

Naruto takes out Tenma. "This katana allows me to channel my wind chakra into it much like your trench knives but to a greater degree. I through this I can mold my wind chakra into an actual attack without performing any actual hand signs.

"But that attack I did took way too long to do and that was half strength it would have take much longer to go to full power and therefore impractical in battle while if I use hand signs I can condense the wind much faster."

Asuma nods and thanks him for the information. "Maybe you'll agree to a friendly spar sometime. I would like to see how far your skills are with wind manipulation are since we are the only two in Konoha that use wind."

"I would like that. Hit me up after the Exams and we will see."

Asuma nods before taking off to sit with the rest of his students. Haku turns to him to ask a question when Kiyomi prods him.

"_You know, I like the changes you did in here, but I still prefer to be in the real world if it isn't too much trouble."_

Naruto mentally nods. After answering Haku's question he starts looking around.

"Where's Naomi-chan?"

Haku shrugs. "She never came back after she left to go to the restroom."

"I better look for her. I don't want her to get lost. I'll be back." Before Haku can protest, he moves off towards the bathrooms.

He moves down the hallways, past the nearest bathrooms. He heads for the furthest ones, about a half mile from the arena which is actually underground, below the tower. He doesn't want to take any chances of someone detecting Kiyomi's raw chakra.

Once he reaches the bathrooms he looks around before summoning Kiyomi. She appears already in her Naomi disguise.

"Ah, much better. You know you are too nice."

He looks at her, but before he can reply a loud noise forces them to stop their conversation.

"Come on, where are we going to do the chakra transfer? We need to get back before we arouse suspicion."

She points. Naruto blinks for a second before answering.

"You want to do it in there? That's the men's bathroom! How is it going to look if we get caught?" he almost shouts exasperatedly.

She deadpans. "How will it look if we are caught in the women's?"

Naruto starts. She does have a point.

"Fine, let's just get this over with."

Naruto turns back to check to make sure the coast is clear. When he turns back he sees the men's door closing. He growls at her boldness.

He opens the door and is pulled into a stall the instant he is inside.

"What the hemrrrph!"

Kiyomi puts her hand over his mouth to silence him. She sits him on the toilet and locks the door. She shifts back to her red-headed form and is without clothes, all business written on her face. Despite having built a resistance to her being naked, there is no immunity from it. A small nosebleed forms, making Kiyomi smirk.

"**As glad as I am that you think I'm attractive let's get this going."**

Naruto nods and takes off his shirt and Kiyomi sits on his lap and as soon as contact is made with his bare chest, she begins to absorb his chakra. After a few minutes, she begins to squirm, making it _really_ difficult for him not to react. Sadly he has no such control. Kiyomi soon feels something poking her. She smiles devilishly.

"**My my, Naruto-kun. Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"**

Naruto growls. "Damn it Kiyomi! Stop moving around! It's not funny."

A retort dies in her throat as the bathroom slams open, hard enough to break the tile that frames the wall.

"UUUHHHHH! How the fuck did that fat ass beat me?"

Sounds of destruction meet Naruto and Kiyomi's ears. Sounds of things breaking and smashing and…something just went through a wall. The stalls start to shake as he breaking each one. As he reaches theirs the man stops. He walks away somewhere and the sounds of something being _ripped_ from the wall, then a smashing sound, then water hitting the floor. The process repeats a half dozen times.

Water is now flooding the floor and Naruto has to pick up his feet from getting soaked which isn't easy as Kiyomi is still sitting on his lap. More smashing and yelling. Something else just flies through a wall. Now the sounds of heavy breathing meets their ears and wet stomping is heard. The door once again is slammed open, but this time most of the door frame comes with it. Yelling with frustration, the man rips the rest of the door frame and tosses it into the bathroom and it collides with their stall. Naruto puts his hands on the stall wall to keep it from collapsing.

Then silence. They breath slowly as the only sound is water hitting a flooding floor. Deciding she has drawn enough, she cuts the flow and gets off his lap, changing into Naomi as she does so. The scene of carnage stuns even her.

The sinks had all been ripped out of the wall, the water from the pipes are now flooding the room. All the stalls but theirs are smashed and broken into several dozen pieces. All the toilets are missing with several mysterious toilet shaped holes in the wall. Finally the door is gone. Just gone, not a trace left of it.

Kiyomi, who can really appreciate this, whistles.

"Damn and I thought I had rage. This level of destruction is on par when I go through heat and no male to fuck."

Naruto, not knowing what to do, does nothing. He just stands there, staring at the destruction. Kiyomi sees this and pulls him by the collar of his shirt. Naruto mindlessly follows much to her amusement. He finally regains his upper brain functions after they exit the bathroom.

They join back up with Haku in the arena.

"Where the hell have you too been?" she asks hotly. Apparently she doesn't appreciate being left out and alone by her friend.

"Sorry, she got lost and ended up going to the far bathrooms. Then we both got lost coming back here since it is a rather large underground labyrinth," Naruto lies.

"Naomi" just nods and sits next to Naruto who is sitting next to Haku.

"Will Haku please come to the arena floor or you will forfeit the match," the proctor calls from the center of the arena. Kiba is already standing inside the arena with Akamaru with a giant smirk on his face. Haku looks hesitant to go, but at Naruto urging jumps into the ring.

As the proctor beings the match Kiba immediately rushes Haku, thinking this will be a very quick match. He throws down a smoke bomb.

"**Gatsūga!**" (Passing Fang over Fang!)

Haku jumps over two spinning projectiles and lands only to dodge another projectile. For the next minute she constantly dodges both Kiba and his mutt.

After a particularly close miss, she curses and tires of this. She grabs three senbon. As a drilling projectile comes toward her, she jumps but this time she lands on top of it, forcing it to plummet into the ground, throwing up dirt and rocks. It keeps spinning hoping to throw her off, but it doesn't work.

Placing the senbon between her fingers (think wolverine) she plunges them into the side of the drilling object. Red quickly covers the object and it stops drilling, revealing a very wounded Akamaru.

Kina seeing his partner gravely injured rushes to his side. However, Haku appears behind him with a kunai to his throat.

"This is still a battle. Surrender or watch your dog die."

Without a thought or hesitation Kiba throws up his hand. "I forfeit."

Haku releases him and her scrambles over to Akamaru who puffs into a sleeping and completely healthy dog. Kiba with tears in his eyes spins to look at Haku who replies with one word.

"Genjutsu."

Meanwhile Naruto had asked around to see what the results were of the other matches he missed.

"Well, Sasuke faced Lee. Sasuke only won because of a cheap shot. He used some foreign chakra to boost his speed and power. He went and hit Lee in the balls! They are gone! Powder, dust," Tenten nearly shouts.

Naruto doesn't know if Sasuke did Konoha a favor or not. But one thing is certain. He permanently injured and crippled a friend and that isn't going to go unpaid.

"Well, Chouji and that Dozu guy went at it. That guy made a big mistake. He called Chouji fat."

Naruto's eyes widen. He remembers the last soul that called him fat. That guy spend two months in a hospital unconscious.

"Needless to say, Chouji went near berserk on him. One hit with a **Chō Harite** (Mega Palm Thrust). Bam! The guy went down. Apparently Chouji has been training with his father a lot lately and it shows.

"Of course the last match was Sasuke's teammates Sai and Hanabi. Sai looks like he didn't try all that hard and Hanabi beat him pretty quick."

Naruto grins along with Kiyomi. The guy who destroyed the bathroom must have been Dozu. Oh well, Naruto would probably do the same thing if he had lost that badly too.

**Time Skip-One month: Exam Finals**

The stadium arena is packed with shinobi, civilians, foreign dignitaries, Dyaimo, and Kage alike. All gather to watch the future prodigies show off their stuff, gaining favor (or a large sum of cash if you place the right bet) with civilians and other countries who in turn hire a village they think did really well or is the best to do the assignment.

The fighters al stand in the holding area, talking in low voices or just standing off to the side not really talking to anybody. Naruto and Haku catch up along with a few others. Haku had spent the month away training her Hyōton abilities. She didn't have a teacher to teach her to control her ability more, but she came up with a few extra exercises. Naruto didn't really differ from his normal training schedule. Kyuubi still taught him a few things at night, but other than that he didn't do anything different.

The fighters are called to the arena and they all file out looking very tense. Except for Naruto who is used to tension so thick one has to get a butcher knife to cut it. The proctor makes a show for the crowd with fancy words that Naruto doesn't listen to. He is scanning the crowd for certain people. They weren't too hard to find.

Kushina is sitting in the first row next to the fighter's box, her vibrant red hair sticking out like a sore thumb. "Naomi" is sitting next to her, keeping up appearances. It would have been weird if she had left before the Exam Finals were over, so she sits next to his mother who she gets along with just fine to fulfill her obligations to stay.

All but Naruto and Neji clear the arena, the others going to the fighter box. Suddenly a loud cheer comes over the arena. Kushina is on her feet yelling at the top of her lungs to, "Show that Hyuuga how far up that stick goes up his ass!"

The entire crowd sweat drops. Up in the Kage box Sarutobi chuckles with amusement. "Just like her. This should be an interesting match." Beside him the Kazekage smirks.

Back down in the arena Naruto is listening to Neji talk about fate and how he has been chosen by Fate to be her personal ass slave.

"Hey Neji, did anyone ever tell you that you act like Fate's bitch and personal ass slave? Seriously, cut down on the bullshit, I'm allergic to it."

Most of the crowd either breaks out in laughter or grins. It gets a different reaction from his mother. "Yeah Sochi, tell him you're not Fate's bitch too!"

More laughter from the crowd. Naruto gives his mom a thumbs up for the help. When he turns back, things go crazy.

Feathers fall from the sky, putting most asleep but the experienced Ninja and a good portion of the Genin dispel it almost immediately. Suddenly eight Suna and Oto ninja appear in the arena and charge Naruto and Neji. Naruto back peddles as he draws his katana and starts dispatching his attackers. In less than ten seconds all his opponents are down.

Kiyomi shunshins to him, already having a lot of blood on her hands (literally).

"Ah, I enjoy a good bloodbath." She gets behind him as twenty more Oto jumps down into the arena. Naruto and Kiyomi start fighting back to back, going through enemies like a hot knife through butter.

Naruto sees Gaara and his siblings sprint out of the stadium out of the corner of his eye towards the main market district of Konoha. He is about to run after them when the Kage box explodes and a purple barrier erupts over the area where the Hokage was just at.

Naruto is torn. On one hand he should pursue Gaara and the others to prevent them from doing damage to the city. On the other hand Sarutobi may need help in fighting who he suspects is Orochimaru. Another thing is that he can't let Kiyomi fight him, not here anyways. There would be too much collateral damage.

"Kiyomi, can you go after Gaara and his squad? I'm sure you would be more than enough to take all three of them."

She thinks it over as she impales another shinobi and rips out his heart. The organ still beats in her hand before dying like the shinobi it came from.

"Sure, I don't see why not. I take it you're going to try to help your Hokage?"

Naruto tries to reply, but is forced to duck under a swipe by a Ninjato. He channels wind chakra through Tenma and cuts right through both the Ninjato and the shinobi wielding it. That was the last of them.

"Yeah. I'm not sure if I can help him too much, but I'd rather not leave him alone in the fight."

Kiyomi nods and jumps after the Sand siblings while Naruto jumps up to the Kage box. Once there he sees several Anbu just standing there while Sarutobi indeed does battle with Orochimaru.

"What the hell are you guys doing! The Hokage needs help and you guys are just standing there like nothing is happening."

An Anbu in a bird mask glares at him. "There is nothing we can do. The barrier is too strong. Any attempt to touch it gets fried and no Ninjutsu will go through it."

"So you just gave up? I thought you guys were the best of the best, but I guess the great Anbu can be stopped by a simple Barrier Seal."

Naruto takes his katana. "**Futon:** **Kaze no Yaiba!**" (Wind Release: Blade of Wind!)

An invisible blade of wind impacts the barrier, leaving it completely intact. Naruto begins to formulate another plan…wait.

He felt something…fluctuate. Something is telling him to try again.

He raises the katana again. "**Futon:** **Kaze no Yaiba!**"

Another wind sword impacts the barrier. There it is again. It seems that every time he hits the barrier, it fluctuates in strength. For a split second, the other walls don't have as much strength as the one getting hit. That means that whoever is holding this barrier up can't spare enough charka to keep up the strength of all the walls when getting hit.

"I need you and another to put an A-Rank jutsu or higher to this side of the barrier at the same time. I'll be on the other side and hopefully we can overload the barrier."

The Anbu looks at Naruto suspiciously. "We don't have time for you to be suspicious. The Hokage needs help and I am giving you a chance to help. If not I can do it myself."

Bird gives him a hesitant nod. He and Salamander begin forming hand signs as Naruto reaches the other side of the barrier.

"**Raiton: Rairyū no Tatsumaki!**" (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Tornado!)

"**Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!**" (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!)

Two dragons burst from their summoners and race to the barrier. The Sound Four holding that barrier in place feel the two massive jutsu heading towards the barrier and shift a majority chakra flow to that wall. They didn't sense Naruto until it was too late.

Naruto forms a Rasengan, instead of it being completely circular, Naruto swirls the chakra in a different way, making it into a different shape. All the chakra is spinning clockwise extremely fast, making a drill-like formation of pure chakra.

"**Renseitama!**" (Drilling Sphere!)

Naruto thrusts the chakra drill forward in to the already weakened wall. The section of wall that Naruto attacked collapses. Not wasting any time, he sprints into the barrier. His theory was right or at least part of it. The barrier didn't collapse entirely, just the wall Naruto broke through. That section of wall regenerates a few seconds after Naruto goes through, preventing any others from interfering.

**With Kyuubi**

Once outside the stadium, Kiyomi shifts into a one tailed fox and chases after her targets. Having known the Ichibi for most of her life, she knows his smell and is tracking it. At first it was heading for the middle of Konoha but it changed course. After a few minutes of following the new direction she comes across a lot of blood and crushed Oto ninjas.

Temari curses. Those Oto nin came out of nowhere and attacked them. One hit Gaara and he went out of control. Part of Gaara's body is now incased in sand and is several times bigger than a normal human limb. She and Kankuro are carrying Gaara, trying to get out of Konoha. They are taking the route past the lake since it is furthest from the invasion point where most of the fighting is going on.

That is until a red fox steps into her path.

The fox stares at her, slitted pupils glaring. Gaara under Shukaku's influence raises his head. Instincts kick in and Gaara breaks free of his sibling's grip and attacks the fox. The fox just stands there until Gaara is less than ten feet away. Suddenly the fox is covered in blue flames and a stream of the same blue-ish fire right at Gaara, shocking not only her but Kankuro as well.

He puts up his freakish arm to protect himself, but the sheer concussive force blasts Gaara back twenty feet. His sand arm is now just glass, but the sand breaks the glass and is reforming the arm.

"**Since when do you attack your betters? I'm not a strict ruler but I do require cooperation on occasion!"**

Shukaku is now in full control of Gaara, the shockwave of being hit knocking him out. More sand starts to crawl up Gaara's body, making him bigger and bulkier.

Temari and Kankuro back away from the fully formed Bijuu. Kyuubi looks on completely baffled by Shukaku's insolence and idiocy.

"**Oh…have we forgotten the last time you tried this?"**

Shukaku laughs. A very creepy and high pitched laugh.

"**You can't fool me. You have been sealed away too. Even though you are here, there is no way you can match my power now. And I will have my just desserts! Mmmm…pecan pie."**

Kyuubi chuckles. **"So be it. But remember this the next time we meet. I will not tolerate disobedience!"**

Kyuubi starts to grow. Red chakra sparks as she sprouts more tails. She rapidly grows bigger and bigger until she reaches twice the height of Temari. Four tails swirl behind her. She is less than half the height of Shukaku, who looks down on her. She swears that there is a smirk on his face.

"**You should have listened. It would have saved you a lot of pain!"** Kyuubi shoots forward faster than anything lower than a Bijuu can keep up with. One tail rockets forward and grabs one of Shukaku's arms while a second tail grabs another. With a massive yank, Shukaku stumbles and falls to the ground, but Kyuubi isn't done there. Using her tails as a winch, she pulls herself to Shukaku and digs into him with her razor sharp claws and teeth. When he beings to buck, she jumps off but keeps her tails wrapped around his arms.

She elongates her tails and starts swinging her tails, dragging Shukaku along the ground. Eventually she stops swinging her tails and ops for lifting him up and throwing him over her head and smashes him into the ground, right beside the lake.

"**Are you done or do you need more?"**

Her answer comes as several sand tendrils shoot out of the ground at her. She retreats a little to avoid being impaled.

Some of the water has seeped into Shukaku's sand, making it heavy and slow. He tries to stand, but the heavier sand is making that very difficult without ripping him apart, forcing him to take it slow. Kyuubi isn't going to waste this opportunity. She surrounds herself with her blue fire and begins to rotate her tails (restored to their original length) in a circle. She spins them faster and faster until a cyclone of fire starts to form.

"**Onipou:** **Akuma Kachuranran!**" (Demon Art: Flaming Fiend Vortex!)

A solid column of blue fire erupts from her tails, shooting straight at the immobile Shukaku. He raises his arms to protect himself, but the flames pass right through it. The fire blasts through Shukaku's torso, making glass or outright vaporizing the sand it hits.

Needless to say, Shukaku is quite a bit of pain. He falls to the ground in a heap. Kiyomi walks up to him and raises his head with a tail.

"**Now, you are to assist the Leaf in the fight. And if you ever try to attack me again, I will kill you."**

With that she picks up Shukaku with all four tails and _tosses_ him across the entire length of Konoha only to land on the wall, a few dozen feet short of clearing it. The Oto nin begin to cheer. As far as they know, Shukaku is on their side. They are in for a rude awakening.

**With Naruto**

Neither combatant has noticed Naruto. They trade furious blows back and forth almost faster than Naruto can keep up. He suppresses his chakra to keep himself hidden, waiting for the right moment. He watches for a few minutes, and then sees his opening.

He silently draws Tenma and makes a slash with it. The slash has wind chakra infused with it, creating an air current that rushes forward at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru is pissed. No, he is beyond pissed. Sarutobi can't be this good? He is an old man and is keeping up with him. That can only mean two things and either is not a comforting thought. He blocks a strike from Sarutobi's Enma staff with his Kusanagi and then goes on the offensive himself.

The only thing that saves Orochimaru is his instincts. He suddenly feels the intense desire to not be right where he is at and shunshins away from the area, just as an invisible wind blade tears through the bottom of his fluttering cloak.

At the end of the shunshin he sees a blond with a black ornate katana out.

"Kukuku…so the Jinchuuriki brat is here."

Sarutobi stares in disbelief. "Naruto, get out of here. Orochimaru is too dangerous and way above your level."

Naruto just raises Tenma in a defensive stance. "You know I won't do that and leave you here alone to deal with him alone. That's what he wants. At least this way we can give him a bigger challenge."

While the two argue, Orochimaru flashes through hand signs. The two look back as he finishes.

"**Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei!**" (Summoning: Impure World Resurrection!)

Three coffins rise out of the ground. They had kanji written on them: First, Second, and Fourth.

'Shit! I can't let him open the third one!'

Sarutobi fires a fire jutsu at the coffin hoping to incinerate it and the occupant inside. But no avail. As the fire draws near, the coffin opens, revealing the three dead Hokages. Tobirama Senju without thinking raises a water barrier, stopping the attack.

As the steam dissipates, Orochimaru finishes placing the tags inside the heads of the dead Hokage, but he didn't count on one reaction.

"Sarutobi...is that…my son?"

Orochimaru's eyes go wide before an evil grin comes over his face as Sarutobi nods mournfully.

"Hey there…father. I would prefer not to do this."

Minato gets watery eyes. "Sochi…I don't want this either. This is not how I wanted things to turn out, but it seems we have no choice."

Naruto nods and turns to Sarutobi. "Old man…I'm fighting my father."

Hiruzen nearly had a heart attack. "No! No way. He is beyond even me. You can't hope to stand a chance against him!"

Naruto shakes his head. "That isn't the point because even if it is a fight that will likely end my life…I still wish to spend some time with him." Before Hiruzen can stop him Naruto rushes off to face Minato, leaving him with his two predecessors.

Naruto brings Tenma down as Minato brings out a normal kunai and blocks it. Sparks fly as the two weapons grind against each other, their wielders battling for supremacy.

Minato grins. "Not bad Sochi."

Naruto returns the grin. "You have no idea."

* * *

End Chapter 7

Words:10,642

Total Words:53,391

Date Released: 3/22/11

AN: Very sorry for the extremely long update time. My computer hard drive fried itself just as I finished chapter 7 the first time and I didn't get a chance to save or upload it. It went to data heaven. This chapter is_ much_ longer than the original version was so I had to leave the Minato/Naruto fight for next chapter. I don't like leaving cliff hangers, but this one is necessary.

Anyways, Naruto will have both Kyuubi and Sakura, but he and Kyuubi's relationship will not get serious (as in date or try anything) yet. I will not say what happens, but he will eventually get both. I'm toying around with a few ideas for the future, but the major events are set at least for the next couple of chapters. Please don't flame about the pairing. I tried to keep it Sakura only, but the with way the story is progressing there is no way I can keep Kyuubi out. They are too close to not and with future events, she will have very little reason to resist.

I apologize if Naruto having more than one girl is either offensive or not your kind of story. The emotional bonds will be very strong and it will not be a "fuck and dump".

Here was the Preliminary Round went:

Round 01 - Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi (cannon)  
Round 02 - Shino Aburame vs. Zaku Abumi (cannon)  
Round 03 - Temari vs. Tenten (cannon)  
Round 04 - Gaara vs. Kankuro  
Round 05 - Neji Hyuuga vs. Hinata Hyuuga (cannon)  
Round 06 - Naruto Uzumaki vs. Ino Yamanaka  
Round 07 - Uchiha Sasuke vs. Rock Lee  
Round 08 - Chouji Akimichi vs. Dosu Kinuta  
Round 09 - Hanabi Hyuuga vs. Sai  
Round 10 - Haku vs. Kiba Inuzuka

The Third Test Round would have gone like this:

Round 01: Naruto Uzumki vs. Neji Hyuuga  
Round 02: Chouji Akamichi vs. Temari  
Round 03: Gaara vs. Shikamaru Nara  
Round 04: Haku vs. Sasuke Uchiha  
Round 05: Hanabi Hyuuga vs. Shino Aburame

Again sorry if you don't like the current pairing, but tough. I will definitely be updating before two months so be looking for a new chapter within the next week or two.

R&R,

tomhunt98


	8. Chapter 8: Letting Go

**Chapter 8: Letting Go**

Naruto and Minato stare each other down before both move off in a blur. Kunai flashes against Katana, creating metal sparks seemingly out of thin air. Edo Tensei does lower the abilities of the shinobi summoned only by hampering their problem solving skills. The raw talent and abilities are still there, but not much more is required when facing a former Kage.

Naruto grunts as the impacts nearly rip his shoulder out if the socket again and again. He can see why his old man was a Kage. Naruto thinks fast as to how to get the advantage in his favor. The only thing…

Naruto's thoughts are cut off as his head is nearly severed from his neck.

"That's it!"

Naruto charges the katana with wind chakra and rushes at his top speed, around Jōnin level. Minato sidesteps quickly and tries to slash at him but Naruto was expecting that and brings Tenma up and slices through the kunai.

Minato wastes no time with the ruined kunai and tosses it aside and makes hand seals.

"**Raiton no Yoroi!**"

There are five ranges in fighting. Of course there is short range, mid range, and long range. But what most people don't count are the two other ranges. There is out of range where the target is too far to be hit. Then there is the last one: too close. This is the space where grapples happen because strikes are ineffective because there isn't enough room to get the proper force behind said strike.

If possible, his dad gets even faster than before and the katana is just too slow, even imbued with wind chakra. His father seems to know that the katanas extend the ranges of the five naturally. While it makes the 'long range' longer, it makes the 'too close' range larger as well. Minato, seeing and knowing this, quickly gets inside the 'too close' range for the sword user.

Naruto sees that Tenma is doing him no favors and has to do something before he is killed. So he creates some space between him and his dad by using raw wind manipulation and destroys a part of the roof, which throws up a small dust cloud. Naruto sheathes his katana for later use but that was all the time he has as Minato rockets out of the dust cloud right for him.

Every time he even gets touched, which is a lot, he gets electrocuted and it is starting to piss him off. He bears through the pain of electrocution and manages to get inside Minato's guard and gives him the hardest shot to his left knee that he could.

He hears a *crunch* followed by Minato falling to the ground, unable to support himself properly. He smiles as his son is doing well against him, but they haven't even gotten to the Ninjutsu yet. He spies Naruto going through hand seal quickly after fighting off the nerve firing electricity before he is forced to get up and fight him some more.

"**Kaze no Yoroi!**"

There is no visible change in Naruto's appearance, unlike his as electricity literally flows around him. The only indication that the jutsu worked is the very low shrill whistle of the wind and Naruto's slightly billowing clothing.

Naruto presses his advantage of Minato being down, which doesn't last long. Naruto gets two hits in, getting shocked in the process. But, his elemental advantage allows him to penetrate the lightning armor and get hits on the skin as well as the wind armor carving a few scratches into his father.

Minato's body quickly becomes covered in gashes as cuts but because Edo Tensei doesn't allow the summoned shinobi to feel physical pain, he just acts like they aren't there and keeps pounding on Naruto, who is clearly not as good in Taijutsu nor is he as fast.

They separate for what seems like the hundredth time and Naruto spares a glance at Sarutobi, who seems to be holding his own for now. Orochimaru is in his original place behind the coffins, conserving his chakra for the jutsu.

The only reason Naruto is still alive is because of his wind armor. It cuts back some of the shock as well as lessens the impact of the blows his dad is giving him.

'Time to move on.'

Naruto drops the armor and makes several hand seals. "**Fūton: Renkūdan!**" (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!)

Minato is forced to dodge the large shot of compressed air, which impacts the roof and destroys a good section of it.

'Good, he isn't taking me lightly. That would have taken me a while to recover from.'

While the Edo Tensei is forcing them to fight, Minato does wish to fight his son…just not to the death. He holds back and allows them to have some fun while 'sparring'.

"**Raiton: Rairyū no Tatsumaki!**" (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Tornado!)

"Shit!"

The lightning dragon bears down upon Naruto, the dragon hits and destroys a more of the roof.

"Come on out Naruto, I know that didn't get you but a clone."

Naruto bursts out of the roof, panting slightly. 'Damn that was close.'

Taking shurikan out of his pouch, he launches them at the older blond to distract and force him to dodge. He is very rudely surprised when Minato doesn't even try to move and gets five shurikan embedded in his chest. Naruto is transfixed as his father makes a show of plucking each one out and letting each hit the ground with a _*clang*_.

"You know Sochi; you're going to have to try harder than that."

Naruto grits his teeth and makes more hand seals.

"**Fūton : Fūjin no Jutsu!**" (Wind Release: Dust Cloud Technique!)

Naruto grabs a handful of destroyed roofing from earlier destructive jutsu and exhales a powerful jet stream of air. The particles of tile shoot off in the wind, creating shrapnel that hurtles at hole-educing speeds.

Minato quickly jumps to the side and makes two hand seals.

"**Raiton: Chokuretsu no Denko!**" (Lightning Release: Lightning Chain!)

Faster than anything Naruto has seen, a single bolt of lightning erupts from Minato's hands and _bounces_ back and forth between particles in the wind technique right at Naruto.

Naruto tries to put up a wind barrier of pure wind chakra but sadly doesn't make it. He is tossed back by the force but other than a few frizzled nerves, the attack didn't do much damage. It wasn't designed to damage so much as interfere with hand seals and blitz attacks.

However, Naruto isn't done and makes more hand seals, forcing Minato to counteract the wind with a very strong lighting jutsu to overcome the elemental disadvantage.

"**Fūton: Shinkūha!**" (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!)

"**Raiton: Jibashi!**" (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!)

The two jutsu meet and the intense heat coming from the lighting emitting from Naruto's hands ignite the very air within the box. All three still living combatants cough with the harsh dust. However, the three Hokage don't move as Orochimaru can't see either.

Minato is staring into the dust when he feels a presence off to his left. He narrowly dodges a perfect Rasengan and jumps to avoid a second and third Rasengan from clones. He twists between the two clones and charges his hands with raw lightning and backhands both clones, dispelling them.

Or that's what would have happened if a massive drill made of air didn't impale Minato directly in the chest while he is unable to do anything. Minato falls to his knees awkwardly and looks to see a massive hole in his chest, right above where his heart is.

He hears someone approaching through the large dust cloud that is thinning and hears a high pitched whine. Suddenly a Rasengan combined with wind chakra bursts through the thinning smoke, aiming right for Minato's head.

The Hokage smiles. His son is indeed a formidable shinobi to have beaten him even if he didn't have the Hiraishin to use. He even completed the technique he made. Single tear slides down his face, truly happy that his boy has surpassed him in that department.

Unable to do anything as the hole in his chest renders him immobile just like a real wound would, Minato accepts his fate with one wish that he wants to spend more time with his son to get to know him more.

The blue and white Rasengan plunges right for Minato's head when a pale hand stops the destructive jutsu just centimeters from the blond's face.

"Kuku…you did better than I expected however, I can't have you killing him just yet."

Naruto grits his teeth, trying to overpower the snake but he might as well be trying to move a mountain. With a sickening crunch, the snake breaks Naruto's wrist. Naruto screams in pain and lets the Rasengan go and grasps his wrist with the other hand.

Minato's eyes go wide while Orochimaru smirks as he prepares to slay the interloping Genin. Naruto, still screaming in pain, looks to see Orochimaru's other hand drawn back. Suddenly Naruto stops screaming and has what can only be described as an evil smirk.

"Boom"

Orochimaru hisses and releases his grip and jumps back with Minato as the clone explodes in a **Bunshin Daibakuha** (Clone Great Explosion).

'When did he?' thinks Minato as he is dragged away from the explosion.

The dust cloud from before finally lifts as does the dust from the exploding clone. With that, two things occur.

One: Minato's wound fully regenerates, allowing him to move again.

Two: Before Minato can move, a kunai embeds itself at the base of his skull, cutting all nerves to his body.

Minato looks to Orochimaru for an explanation as to why he allowed the kunai to be lodged by one of the clones from before but sees Orochimaru's mouth wide open and candidly staring at the _other_ end of the roof.

**Time Relapse – Just after first Explosion**

Naruto coughs into his hands as the dust cloud covers the entire roof. If there is a time to change the status quo, it is now.

From under the ground, three shadow clones come up. He made them after escaping the lightning dragon while still under the tiles. That is how Minato knew he wasn't hit. He felt Naruto make a clone afterwards. It also had the secondary effect of drawing Minato into a false sense of security and think a shadow clone is the real Naruto.

With a mental command, he sends the clones off to distract his father. Naruto then makes his way to the other side where Hiruzen is still fighting the Sho and Nidaime Hokage. As he runs, he feels Kyūbi return to the seal.

"_**What's going on? Why are there dead Hokage here and fighting?"**_Kiyomi asks.

"_Because Orochimaru used a forbidden jutsu to raise the past Hokage to fight Sarutobi. I started fighting my father and am leaving clones right now to do so while I help out Sarutobi with the other two."_

Kiyomi rages within the seal.

"_**Let me out! I'll tear that bastard limb from limb!"**_

Naruto sighs and continues his run towards the three battling Kage.

"_I can't do that. Most of Konoha would be destroyed if I did so. And besides, I thought we are keeping you being able to get out of the seal a secret for now?"_

"_**Don't patronize me! You know how much this means to me!"**_ she roars from inside her cage.

Naruto resists a sigh.

"_And you know how much trouble we will be in if you go into a rage and from the sounds of it you are close to it anyways! I can't risk you getting out and destroying everything in your path. We can go after him after this but for now you are staying within the seal."_

Naruto blocks himself off from her, leaving Kiyomi's raging howls and snarls as she tries to break down the iron bars of her cage to herself. Naruto sees Hiruzen use a fire jutsu only for a wall of water to appear in front of the flames.

"**Fūton: Daitoppa!**" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!)

The wind hits the fire and Naruto uses the wind to halt the fire until it is a massive ball of white flames. He then reapplies the jutsu to shove the enormous flaming ball forward, straight through the wall of water. Even though the water makes the flames cooler and smaller, it still can pack a punch and scorch things its path.

The two dead Kage scatter as to not get burned, giving Naruto some time.

"I figured you could use some help," Naruto says to a panting Hiruzen.

"Naruto…does this mean Minato is gone?" the old man asks heavily.

"No. I can see why he is a Kage even if he doesn't have the Hiraishin. If it weren't for my NinTaijutsu, I wouldn't be here right now. Anyways, you look like you can use some help."

Hiruzen scoffs. "Please. While I am not as young as I used to me, there is still plenty left within this old sack of bones."

"Good because I think I have…"

"**Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu!**" (Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique!)

Naruto and Hiruzen jump apart as several tendrils of wood shoot at them to capture them. Naruto uses raw wind manipulation and uses the wind to produce a drill to scatter the lazer-like blast of water from the Nidaime. Naruto sprints forward, activating his Kaze no Yoroi and engages the Nidaime in Taijutsu.

And just like Naruto's father, the Nidaime proves to be well versed in Taijutsu as much if not more than Ninjutsu. Once again, the Wind Armor saves Naruto's life as it blunts the impacts of the Nidaime, which are numerous. But even with the incredible skills in Taijutsu, the cuts and gashes are too much and one arm of the Nidaime gets detached. Naruto takes advantage of this and draws Tenma and slices horizontally and cleaves the head of the Nidaime from the body.

As the head flies up, Naruto slices it in half. As the head halves separate, Naruto sees that his aim is true and the seal tag on the end of the kunai.

The heads and body of the Nidaime slowly dissolve and evaporate in to the air. Naruto can swear he head a faint _'thank you'_.

With the knowledge of how to destroy them in hand, Naruto hurries to help defeat the Shodaime. However, the Shodaime isn't about to just let himself be on the defensive. He smacks Hiruzen away with a blurring back fist and goes through two separate hand seals on both hands and says something that Naruto can't hear.

Suddenly water erupts out of Hashirama throwing Naruto back. Naruto somehow remains on his feet. When he recovers himself, he finds that he can't move his feet. He looks down and finds his feet are in ankle deep mud.

'That must have been his second jutsu.'

Naruto sees Hiruzen slowly getting up off the ground. "Hey old man! Can you hold him off until I can get out of here?"

Sarutobi shoots Naruto an annoyed look at being called an 'old man'. He makes hand seals, nicks his hand, and slams the bloodied hand on the ground with a mighty cry of "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

In a large puff of smoke, Enma the Monkey King appears. He takes one look at the situation and with a nod from Hiruzen transforms into his adamantine staff. Faster than one would think an old man can go, Hiruzen is on Hashirama.

It is a sight to behold. Two Kage level ninja going full out in Taijutsu in a battle that will decide the fate of the entire village. Neither holds anything back. One out of duty and sheer willpower, the other because he can't fight the controlling abilities of the jutsu. One would be awed just by the sheer intensity of the fight.

But Naruto isn't one of them…not right now. His entire concentration is on his hands and what he has to do.

He forms twin Rasengans and charges them with as much chakra as he can. They grow in size to be twice the size of a normal Rasengan and Naruto begins the hard part. He forces the two A-rank jutsu to merge. Sweat rolls off his brow as he tries to control the chakra and not have it explode in his hands. Not even Kyūbi can heal something that doesn't exist anymore.

Slowly, the two balls of chakra merge and the two transparent spheres becomes one super dense ball of pure white chakra.

With that done, Naruto begins the next phase: adding wind chakra.

The reason he didn't add the wind chakra to begin with is because while learning it in his mindscape with Kyūbi, it became too difficult to try to control two different types of chakra in two different hands and combine them. He had to re-grow his hands more than a dozen times and sometimes all the way up to his shoulders.

As Naruto adds wind chakra, the ball begins to spin. It spins faster and faster until it screeches. Naruto grunts in effort to contain the jutsu. There is only one thing left to do…

"Old man, now would be a good time to get out of the way!"

Hiruzen doesn't need to be told twice. He leaps away, heaving heavily from the prolonged exertion. Being so tired, he misjudges his landing and lands wrong, resulting in his ankle producing a sickening crunch and crack.

However, his attention at the spectacle before him.

Naruto carefully lets the side facing Hashirama slip in containment (which is harder than it sounds)…and the result is devastating.

"**Rasen Oodzutsu!**" (Spiraling Cannon!)

Out of the end facing the dead Kage erupts a beam of chakra moving and spinning at incomprehensible speeds. The white normal chakra and the slightly blue wind chakra spiral around each other, feeding and fueling each other to go faster.

The beam of dueling chakra types reaches the intended target and completely obliterates the dead Kage.

Naruto grits his teeth, trying desperately to hold the jutsu on target. The sheer force of the jutsu recoil nearly dislocates his arms but he holds strong. However, the force he is being pushed back with is even greater than the force of being stuck in the mud. Slowly, he is being pushed out of the mud and onto 'dry' roof.

All of this happens in less than a second after Naruto shouts to Hiruzen. Hashirama tried to move, but with his reflexes and independent thinking being reduced to almost nothing he takes the attack full force.

Just as Naruto's feet exit the mud, the technique runs dry and Naruto slumps to his knees, his hands smoking. His is utterly exhausted both physically and mentally. He has nothing left and hopes that his clones were successful in dealing with his father or this is going to be over really quick.

Speaking of his father and Orochimaru, they had started watching when Naruto merged the two Rasengan. Both were so enraptured by what he is doing that neither noticed nor cared that Minato has a kunai lodged in his neck and restriction seals being placed on the ex-Kage.

Minato felt his cheeks wet with tears of happiness as he watches his son so something with the Rasengan that he never thought possible or could even be attempted.

He is brought out of his thoughts by a dark chuckling beside him.

"Kukukukuku…very interesting Naruto. You have far more potential than Sasuke does but you don't have what I need. I must eliminate you know before you become more of a nuisance to my plans."

Orochimaru starts towards Naruto's slumped figure. The two remaining clones try to save Naruto, but they just get dispelled quickly, like a fly to a rhino. Hiruzen tries to get up but his ankle won't support any of his weight. He falls to the ground several times in a desperate attempt to get to his successor's heir.

Minato is having an equally difficult time. Orochimaru gave him a mental command to stay put and watch, so his body is but he is fighting as much as he can but to no avail. He has no choice but watch helplessly as his son, who has come so far in his young life only for it to be snuffed out.

Orochimaru closes on Naruto, a self satisfied smirk on his face. He is feet away and stretches out his sender arm. Naruto can't do anything as his body has completely shut down for the time being. He hangs his head I resignation of his death.

Orochimaru is inches away when a large wall of water crashes into him, sending him back. The instant he is away from Naruto, he lets out a blood curling cry of anguish. He looks to see his arm severed at the shoulder. His shinobi instincts go crazy and he jumps away trying to ignore the pain. Right where he was standing, the tile explodes. Orochimaru lands and instantly jumps again as the tile he lands on explodes again.

This continues for a while. Orochimaru would land and jump and narrowly miss being killed. After five whole minutes of constant cat and mouse, a red blur lands between him and Naruto. Kushina stands with her Akanakami out. She isn't even breathing at all from that supercharged and deadly game of 'tag'.

Orochimaru on the other hand isn't doing too well. His arm is missing, meaning that he is losing blood rapidly and now he can't perform many jutsu. On top of that, his chakra is almost gone. There is no way he can win now. So he goes for a stalling tactic.

"Kuku. It is good to see you again after all these years Kushina-chan. I see you have been keeping in shape after all these years."

Kushina's only response is to raise her katana.

"Oh so feisty. You really are the perfect specimen."

Kushina decides not to answer that. Instead a dozen Anbu land beside her, weapons drawn and at the ready. That's when he notices that the barrier is no longer present.

'How?'

"It is over. We already have your shinobi that made the barrier, the invasion is a failure, the Hokage lives. You have lost. Retreat before you lose even more."

And Orochimaru does just that. He scowls and glares fiercely at her son.

"We shall meet again Naruto. And when we do, you will die a very slow and painful death…after a bit of experimenting on first of course."

Kushina looks at the spot Orochimaru had occupied not a few seconds ago and turns to the Anbu.

"Secure the village and take the Hokage to the hospital for treatment. I will see to my son."

The Anbu just move off with the Hokage in tow, leaving the Uzumaki family alone. Kushina sighs and sheathes her blade before turning to Naruto. She kneels beside him.

"Naruto…why are you here? You could have easily been killed. You are a Genin, albeit a Jōnin level Genin but still the lowest ranked of the village. This was a battle for Kage and those equal in power and knowledge, not a greenhorn like you. Hiruzen could have easily been killed trying to defend you."

Her tone is light and low, laced with both disappointment and concern. She must have been worried sick when he went into the barrier.

"I…I just thought that he could use some help, him being old and all. And I was right. Orochimaru revived the Hokage of old and used them to fight us."

Kushina's eyes go wide.

"You mean…you saw your father?"

Naruto nods. "I did more than that. I fought him." His mother's eyes grow even more, if that is even possible.

"Kushina…"

Said woman goes stiff, recognizing the voice. Both Uzumaki turn their heads to a confined Fourth Hokage. His eyes are sparkling with tears again. Husband and wife's eyes meet again and the red head nearly tackles her dead husband right then and there. Her eyes tear up and she stands but she feels Naruto's hand on her wrist.

"Take me with you…please. I can't move," he asks in a small voice.

Kushina nods and gets her shoulder underneath his arm and lifts him. She drags him over to when Minato is bound and where the kunai is lodged into his neck. She places Naruto down right beside Minato then proceeds to hug her husband and love. Tears now stream down her face unabashed and uncaring if anyone saw.

"Minato…"

"I'm here Kushina…I'm here," he sooths his secret wife.

The red head's tears slowly get under control and she wonders why he won't put his arms around her and hold her back. She sees the offending kunai and reaches for it when she is stopped by Naruto.

"Don't Ka-chan. As much as I would like to, we have to remember that he is still under the control of Orochimaru and if we let him loose, he will just have to try to kill us both."

Kushina rubs her hands over Minato's sharp jaw line and feels his five-o-clock shadow starting to come in, just as it had been fifteen years ago. Her eyes water but she holds back her tears.

"Kushina…I'm so proud of our son and of you. You raised him to be a fine young man and an even better shinobi. He even defeated me and I couldn't be more pleased with how you have handled everything."

Her purple eyes shoot to Naruto in astonishment.

"Ka-chan, before you make assumptions, he couldn't use the Hiraishin nor could he really think through his actions to offence or defense. His reflexes were too slow to be at a Kage level. Had he been at full power, he would have wiped the floor with me."

Minato shakes his head. "That doesn't matter because in the shinobi world, you must take advantage of every weakness, every deficiency. You took advantage of mine and you did wonderfully. You didn't even use the Kyūbi."

Naruto's face glows red with the praise. He soon finds himself being crushed into a hug by his mother. He forces himself to move his tired arms and hug her back. She rocks him back and forth like she used to as a child and Naruto has to fight to stave off sleep. So he lets go and turns to his father.

"So how are you still here? I'm sure snake face would have canceled the jutsu by now."

Minato nods his head the best he can, which isn't very well.

"He did the moment Kushina interfered. I felt the constant flow of chakra into me stop and if I had been fighting, I would have run out and disappeared by now. Only the restraining cuffs and seals are keeping me here as they keep me from using chakra, even on the most basic levels. But even now, my supply of chakra is running out and I don't have much time left…"

Kushina's face nearly breaks his heart. Her utterly sad look, it makes him want to cry.

"Don't be sad. This is the way it was meant to be. We got lucky to even have this time together."

Kushina's eyes water again and she tries to channel her chakra through her hands into him.

"That won't work. Only the summoner can charge me with chakra. Kushina…Kushina!" The red head slightly recoils as his suddenly harsh tone but it gets her attention. "Listen to me, your husband and the love of my life. You have to let me go, if not for your own sake than Naruto's. He still needs his mother and his mother needs him. Don't throw your life away trying to find some way to bring me back or wish for death.

"That is not the Kushina I know. The Kushina I know is strong yet sympathetic. Brave and compassionate. Fierce but loving. Nowhere in that list does it state she is an emotionally fragile little girl. The Kushina I know moves on. The Kushina I know is strong enough to move on. You have doubts about yourself. The Kushina I know doesn't doubt anything about herself except if she is being too much of a guy. That is the Kushina I know and love."

Kushina looks down at the ground.

"The Kushina I know can let me go and move on with her life." It is but a mere whisper but the dam breaks. Kushina launches herself at Minato, crying hysterically. Minato can do nothing (literally) but let her use him.

(FYI, she is stuttering here but I won't write that in. Just use your imagination)

"I…I miss you so much. I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep since that night. I hardly go out because the mere thought of dating someone else makes me feel unfaithful. I act like everything is fine, but even just seeing my son reminds me of you and the things we used to do together. I'm…I'm such a wreck and bad mother."

Naruto listens and realizes just how difficult it must have been for her. His appearance is so close to his father's that her heart must be torn to shreds every time she sees him. Add to that, she used to tell him that he is a genus like his father. And then… all the times he asked her to tell him a story about Minato. And not once did she ever cry in front of him, ever give any hint that she missed her husband so much that she doesn't even sleep well at night.

'She kept it together for me. I doubt that if I had died that night she would have gone so far into depression. I had no idea that she missed dad so much…'

Naruto uses the last of his energy to crawl over to his sobbing mother. Naruto sees Minato's skin start to flake off and peel. He doesn't have long left.

He gets close enough that he wraps his arms around his crying mother and his father. Kushina shifts slightly and moves an arm around her son and together, they grieve as a family.

Nobody notices a lone Anbu with purple hair take out a camera and snap a single photo. Under her mask, she smiles at the small family. A small tear falls from her eye at the touching moment and continues to watch their back in case someone should try to take advantage of their family time.

All too soon in both mother and son's opinion, Minato's body is at its end. Kushina watches with red, puffy eyes as the love of her life leaves for the second time. She latches onto the only source of support she has now, which is Naruto. They watch with great sadness as a great man passes on for the second time into the afterlife.

Minato's body flakes and starts to blow away. He smiles happily at his son and wife.

"I'm very happy that I got to see you all grown up Naruto. Continue on this path and make a name for yourself. And take care of your mother."

Naruto nods his head. "I will."

Minato turns to Kushina. "Don't forget what I said. I love you. I'll see you again one day."

Kushina would cry but her tear ducts are completely dry. She just hangs her head and nods once.

Minato seems satisfied with that. "Now I can go in peace." The wind picks up, taking his body with it. But both hear a voice in the wind, fully of mirth and amusement.

"…and give her a lot of grandchildren to play with."

Naruto would have gone red if he weren't so tired. Both he and Kushina just sit there, too tired to move much. Both look up when a gentle hand is placed on both their shoulders. They see the familiar Anbu and relax.

"Allow me to take you back to your house. I'm sure you both are exhausted."

Yugao takes off without waiting for permission. A swirl of leafs later and both Uzumaki are deposited within Kushina's home. Kushina looks around and sees and hears that Haku is not back yet. She stands on shaky legs and helps Naruto to his feet.

"I guess I'll take the couch…" he says, barely conscious.

Kushina bites her lip before asking something.

"Naruto…would you…would you sleep in my room? I just need someone there and I don't trust anyone else as much as you."

Naruto is too tired to argue or reject her, so he agrees. Kushina gives him a faint smile before moving them both up the stairs. Once there, Kushina disarms both of them and takes off their shoes and slides Naruto under the covers and she does the same on the other side. Both are fully clothed and Kushina pulls Naruto close to her. The last thing Naruto does before losing consciousness is to put his arms around Kushina and pulls her more into him.

**Time Skip – 2 Days**

Naruto awakens from his slumber in an unfamiliar bed. He sits up and looks around enough to recognize his mother's room after a few moments. He briefly wonders how he got here when he feels a bit of a draft.

He looks down to find himself without a shirt and he can't feel any pants on either. He hurriedly pulls up the covers to check his 'modesty level'. He breathes out a sigh of relief when he sees his boxers still firmly intact and on his person.

_Then_ he remembers why he is in his mother's bed. Damn faulty memory.

"I guess I need to get up."

Naruto rises from the bed and eyes a set of clean clothes and a large towel, a clear sign to get a shower. But first things first. He makes a trip to the toilet and releases an entire day's worth of fluids and other waste.

A half hour later, Naruto stiffly walks down the stairs to see his mother and Haku talking quietly.

"Morning," he says as the two.

Both are up in an instant, checking to see if he is ok or if he needs anything.

"Well, I could use some water…a lot of water and food. My throat feels like a desert and my stomach is hurting from not having any food in a while."

Kushina makes a clone to make him something to eat while she guides Naruto down to the sofa with Haku and Kushina sitting on a couple of recliners.

"So how long was I out?" he asks as he accepts a glass of water and a pitcher from his mother's clone.

"Well, that is a loaded question. You see, you and I slept almost a full day. I got up when Haku came home from the hospital. Apparently some Oto nin wanted to turn her into a shish kabob with a couple of kunai."

Naruto looks worriedly at Haku who blushes under his gaze.

"It…it wasn't that bad, just a few deep cuts. I waited until most of the more injured, which was a while. In the meantime, I took a few herbs to keep my wounds from getting infected. After waiting a while, a medi-nin came and stitched up my wounds with a few healing jutsu. See….just fine," she finishes with showing him her arms.

Naruto nods and looks to his mother to continue the story.

"After I woke up, showered, changed, and ate, I woke you up but you were so out of it because of chakra exhaustion, I had to help you do normal things. Like eating and…going to the bathroom and changing."

Naruto's face heats up. While there isn't anything he has that she hasn't seen…well besides his tails, it is still embarrassing to have to be helped to do something as basic as that. Not to mention that she hasn't seen _that_ since he was what…six?

Kushina reads his mortified expression and decides to relieve his discomfort.

"Don't worry. I didn't see anything. I more of helped you to the toilet and let you do your business while I went to get some clothes from your apartment. After that, I helped you eat and then took off your shirt, pants, and socks and tucked you back into bed and you've been asleep ever since. That was yesterday."

Naruto's face still is a bit red but he gets control of himself. The conversation is interrupted when Kushina-clone comes out and hands Naruto a plate of food.

"That was fast…"

The clone gives Naruto a slight smack on the back of the head. "Don't be cheeky and just eat," she intones and dispels.

Naruto doesn't waste a second and digs in with vigor. Even if is reheated food, it is still very good.

With Naruto's hunger temporarily abated, Naruto decides to head home…his apartment. He is dreading what is going to transpire once he gets there. It only took a little convincing to let him go as Kushina wanted him to stay at her place as he continues to recover.

As soon as he closes the door, he releases his tails with a grunt. They are stiff and creaky from not being released for days on end. He waits an hour, doing laundry and whatnot then eating again and going to the bathroom. He then climbs into bed despite it only being two in the afternoon and delves into his mindscape.

**Scene Shift: Mindscape**

Naruto dreads his meeting Kiyomi for the first time in days. He wasn't very nice and while she wasn't exactly Mother Teresa at the time, she has every right to be angry at him. He robbed her of her first real chance at revenge and that is something that she may never forgive him for.

He approaches the enormous bars hesitantly and steps through them, having no fear of Kiyomi attacking to kill. Even if she were to attack him, he wouldn't resist. When he sees not a hide or hair of Kiyomi, his heart falls. Though expected that she wouldn't want to talk to him, it was still disheartening to find her hiding from him.*

Naruto changes the mindscape into the 'normal' fields and sits down underneath a tree. He sits there and waits for her to show herself. He knows that she knows he is here. And she knows that he knows that she knows he is here.

Before Naruto gets a headache from thinking like that, he puts a stop to it and starts focusing on just what he will say to her.

He waits patiently for her, prepared to wait for days if necessary. Luckily though, Kiyomi has other ideas.

Five hours after entering the mindscape, Kiyomi shimmers into existence not twenty feet in front of him in human form dressed in that leaves much to the imagination. She silently walks over to him and sits with her back against the same tree with a little bit of distance between her and Naruto.

Neither speak because one they do, nothing will stop the incoming conversation. But Naruto can't wait forever.

"Kiyomi-chan…I'm sorry." Kiyomi doesn't answer so Naruto continues.

"I know I did you wrong and I…I don't want you to hate me but I understand if you do."

Kiyomi is still silent, contemplative, listening to Naruto's words.

"What I did hurt you and it was rude and inconsiderate. And I'm sorr…"

"**Did you mean it?"**

Her voice is soft like a breeze, making Naruto not sure if he really heard it or not.

"Mean what?"

Kiyomi looks at him with her burning red eyes swimming in unreadable emotions.

"**Did you mean it that we could go after him?"**

Naruto can see clear as day that this means more to her than anything else in the world.

"Of course I did. But I will need some training since I'm not strong enough to fight a Sannin or many others near his strength for an extended period of time. I did well against the Hokage but they couldn't problem solve and I don't think they wanted to even if they could. I would just be a hindrance to you as I am now."

Now Kiyomi knows Naruto is a humble person and by the looks of it is even more of one now having seen what real Kage level shinobi are capable of. That and he nearly died several times if it weren't for his reflexes and quick thinking.

"**I'm sorry too."**

If Naruto's head hadn't already been facing her, he might have broken his neck with how fast his head would have moved.

"Come again?"

Kiyomi flushes then pushes it down. **"I said I'm sorry. I wasn't exactly level headed back then and I didn't exactly help you out. You could have died because you cut me off because I was so angry. I had no clue what was going on and the thought that my death could be any second didn't help matters. **

"**It wasn't until you woke up the first time where you mother had to spoon feed you did the connection open again and I saw the results of the battle and I felt terrible. I couldn't help out nor could you use my yoki since the connection was broken."**

She lets herself trail off leaving Naruto to imagine what was left unspoken.

"**And you're not weak. If you were weak, you wouldn't have survived the fight. You don't give yourself enough credit."**

Kiyomi, in a rare show of affection without innuendo, moves closer and sits so that her hips and leg touches his. Her head falls to his shoulder with her eyes closed.

"**With you being unconscious for a few days, it gave me time to think and realize that you are the most important person to me. Nobody understands me like you do, nobody has ever been this patient with me, and nobody has even stuck with me and befriended me like you. As you slept I realized that if you were to die, that I would be alone again. And that is something that I don't think I can stand."**

"Alright"

Kiyomi looks up at him. **"Alright what?"**

Naruto gives her a smile that makes her heart beat faster. "We will leave the village and I train for a while. Then we go and find your kits and then find Orochimaru and kill him. After that we can return to the village and then take it from there."

"**But how? I doubt that old man is just going to let you just waltz out of here without any assurances you will return."**

Naruto gives her a 'foxy' grin that makes her heart quicken. "Here is what we do…"

**Time Skip – Next day**

Naruto, along with his mother, his god father, and his 'in everything but blood' brother Kakashi are squashed inside the Hokage's office. Sarutobi has a boot of a cast on his foot along with a lot of bandages from cuts and gashes. Right now everyone is looking at Naruto like he has grown another head.

"Say what?"

Naruto looks at everyone.

"I said that I wish to train privately outside the village for a few years."

Hiruzen sets his face. "And why should I permit such a thing?"

Naruto looks down as. "Because I realized just how much further I have to go to be at your levels. I can't even go up against Kakahi-nii and win. I need to get out and train in things that would cause problems in the village."

Jiraiya speaks up for the first time. "And what would that be?"

"Well, first off would be new jutsu but most importantly would be Kyūbi's yoki."

Nobody can argue that fact. There would be hell to pay if people sensed Kyūbi's yoki even if it was for training purposes.

Hiruzen sighs and shakes his head. "Alright, I concede on that point. But you still need someone to look after you. I'm not letting a Genin go out on his own even if he wasn't Jōnin caliber. Jiraiya here wanted to take you on as his apprentice anyways."

Naruto shakes his head. "Nothing against you Jiraiya but I already have a teacher who is more powerful and less of a pervert than you are."

Everyone's eyebrows rise while Kushina gets flustered slightly thinking he is talking about her.

"Naru-chan, I'm flattered you think so much of me but Jiraiya can teach you things that I never could. And it would be beneficial to you if you were around a male more, even if he has perverted tendencies. With just me I'm afraid that you haven't learned about…guy things as much as you should."

Naruto turns to his mother. He walks over to her and takes her hands and looks her in the eyes.

"Ka-chan, as brilliant and smart and powerful as you are, I wasn't referring to you."

Kushina's eyes go wide when she finally realizes just who he is talking about. Before Kushina can begin to protest or even argue, Naruto makes hand seals that everyone in the room is familiar with.

A large puff of smoke and everyone minus Kushina and Naruto prepare for a fight. For standing, or in this case laying, is the mighty Kyūbi no Yoko. Everyone, even Naruto, sweatdrops as they see Kyūbi is snoring lightly with a bubble of...something on the end of the red snout.

Naruto suddenly finds himself being lifted off the ground with an angry looking Jiraiya hoisting him up.

"What the fuck? I want answers NOW!"

"Jiraiya, release my son now!" Kushina roars, coming to the defense of her son.

However, everyone stops when a deep yawn is heard and looks to see Kyūbi walking up. Jiraiya drops Naruto and grabs a few yoki suppressant seals from his pocket and prepares to slap them on Kyūbi when Naruto stops him.

"Just wait and listen."

"**What the hell? What have I told you about summoning me randomly?"** Kyūbi asks sleepily.

Jiraiya turns his head to Naruto and is about to slap him upside the head and move him out of the way when a tail grabs his hand. He is surprised to feel actual fur and not chak…yoki.

"**I don't know who you are and I don't care. The only one going to do violence while I'm here is me."**

"Kyūbi…stop threatening my family and friends."

Kyūbi looks to Naruto and then back to Jiraiya.

"**Fine. What did you summon me for anyways?"**

Those who have not meet Kyūbi before are very surprised to see Naruto 'control' Kyūbi like he did.

"I changed the seal, no Kyūbi cannot get away as he is still bound to me. No it isn't a trick to get me to release him. Yes there were some side effects to changing the seal and yes I will show you them. And yes you can examine the seal afterwards," Naruto quickly cuts off the obvious questions.

Naruto releases his tails, drawing wide eyes and a gasp from his mother. Naruto can just feel the negative thoughts running through his mother. Something about trust and stupid blonds.

"Ka-chan, I didn't tell you because I thought it would be too much of a shock in one day to discover that I could not only summon Kyūbi _and_ have tails because of it. I didn't want you to freak out and go to Sarutobi who would probably freak out too. And who knows what would have happened then. It wasn't a matter of trust. I trust you with my life and there aren't too many I can say that. But one of them is Kyūbi too."

Naruto turns to the rest of the group, ignoring the scathing glares his mother is receiving. Those eyes tell her that they are going to have a long conversation after this as to why she didn't inform them of this.

"It may surprise you to know that Kyūbi and I have been communicating since I was six. I fell into my mindscape after training and we met. At first Kyūbi was all 'Death to mortals' and 'insulting to be sealed in a puny human' as well as 'anger, anger, me angry' but after a while Kyūbi and I struck a deal. He would help train me at night in the mindscape and in exchange, I can't lose to anyone lest people think that the host of the great Kyūbi no Yoko is a 'pussy' I believe is the term he used.

"Ever since I have been training as a shinobi, Kyūbi has also been teaching me. That technique you saw me use is something Kyūbi taught me and I would put it at S-rank level. I count him as my closest and best friend. I am the same to Kyūbi, even if he is too prideful to admit it. He really is a cuddly little stuffed toy at hear…"

Naruto suddenly finds a tail _very_ close to his crushing his manhood.

"**Finish that word and 'Naruto Jr.' becomes 'Naruto No longer'."**

They continue to banter back and forth, both completely forgetting that there are people watching them. That is until Hiruzen has enough and slams his hands down on his desk to get their attention.

"ENOUGH! Naruto you will show your seal to Jiraiya to make sure that it is stable. After that you will explain why you did such a foolish thing of altering the seal without authorization or supervision."

Naruto narrows his eyes. "First of all, the seal belongs to no one but me. I need no authorization to change anything that is on my body or about my body. I certainly don't need people who will say whatever they want to keep either myself as weak as possible or won't agree just because it involves changing the seal."

Jiraiya decides to jump in and prevent a falling out of the two. "Now Naruto, you should have been much more careful. Kyūbi is…"

"My friend…my best friend. I tell him everything even if he sees what I see, hears what I hear. He has helped me mature and become as strong as I am now. I already told my mother that I trust Kyūbi with my life and not once has he given me any reason to even pause."

It is a good thing that Kiyomi's fur is naturally red or they would see the massive blush on her muzzle from him defending her so vehemently.

Naruto sighs and calms down.

"I said I trust Kyūbi but that doesn't mean that I trust blindly. After he proposed the changes, I checked for a week on the principles on what it would do to the seal and what other affects it would have on me. You can ask my mother on my Fūinjutsu skills, I'm no novice. I double checked, triple checked, quadruple checked all my findings and only after I was satisfied did I do the changes. The seal is still intact but allows me to 'pull' Kyūbi out temporarily.

"Kyūbi is still bound to me nor can he get all that far from me, I think the farthest we have gone is across the village from each other. In exchange to gaining the strongest summons in history, Kyūbi gets to stretch his legs every once and a while and gets to…vent…his anger and frustration on bandits and the like."

Meanwhile, Kushina is eying his tails with fascination.

"Um…could I?" she asks quietly.

Naruto starts. It is so rare for his mother to be meek about anything it is a sight to behold with her being so subdued. He sees her staring at his blond tails and gives her a knowing smirk. It seems that most females have an instinctual need to pet furry things.

"Sure."

Kushina slowly approaches the tail with caution. She reaches out and touches the tail hesitantly. Instantly she draws her hand back as if it is going to hurt her but nothing happens. Before long she is petting the tail eagerly.

"Alright let's get this over with."

Naruto chucks his shirt and Jiraiya goes over to examine the seal. Kushina however is too enraptured by his tails to focus on anything else. Meanwhile Naruto feels Jiraiya running his fingers over the contours of the seal as he mumbles to himself.

After a while Jiraiya stands and sighs. "The seal is fine. The majority of the modifications seems to allow more yoki to pass through the seal, thus enabling Naruto to 'summon' Kyūbi from the seal. The funny thing is that Naruto is still able to use yoki from Kyūbi even while Kyūbi is not within the seal. Also, Naruto uses far less chakra than it normally takes to summon a boss since Kyūbi is already on this plane of existence from what I can tell.

"But there is no weakness in the seal other than natural degradation and even that is minimal since he hasn't had to use Kyūbi's yoki hardly at all."

Fortunately Sarutobi is satisfied with that.

"Very well. Now I will approve your extended training mission only because you need to get out of the village to learn how to harness Kyūbi's yoki. But you will take Jiraiya with you…"

"**I don't think so."**

Everyone, except Kushina, turns to Kyūbi.

"**I will only accept teaching and showing Naruto what I have learned. I haven't lived for millennia just to give out my knowledge free of charge. And the only reason I'm giving knowledge to Naruto is if he dies, I die. Also I will NOT have a weak container. If word got out that other vessels are stronger than mine, it would be an insult far greater than anything I could imagine."**

"Look, I understand where you are coming from but there is a group after you and Naruto. The Akatsuki are collecting the Bijū for an unknown reason and I can't have him wandering around without protection!"

Kyūbi's red eyes bore into Sarutobi's. The air becomes thick with KI as Kyūbi grows angry. All are effected but Naruto and Kushina.

"**You dare doubt my abilities? My power? If it hadn't been for that blond Hokage, this village would be nothing more than a smear on the map. Nothing is stronger than I and I will fight all who challenge that claim."**

"Kyūbi enough! He is only looking after us."

Kyūbi looks to Naruto. **"No more like protecting his 'weapon'. I know how Jinchūriki are treated. I was the last Bijū to be sealed and I refuse to allow myself or my container to be the puppet of anyone."**

Kyūbi's KI finally drops, allowing Jiraiya and Hiruzen to breathe again.

"Look Old Man, Kyūbi isn't going to budge. He can be the most stubborn being on the planet when he wants to be. It would save us all a headache if you just say yes. And also, there are things that Jiraiya can't teach me nor can he hope to control me once I start learning to control yoki. Kyūbi can if he is on the outside of the seal."

Sarutobi sighs in defeat. "Fine but you will sign the Toad contract and keep in touch every month. I am granting you two years to train and then return."

Naruto turns to Kyūbi. "Is that fine with you?"

Kyūbi scowls as much as a fox can. **"So be it. If I must share summons at least the Toads are best in combat outside of the Salamanders. But no others!"**

Naruto waves his hands at Kyūbi. "Fine fine." He turns to his mother who is still petting his tails. "Ka-chan…Ka-chan!"

Still nothing. Naruto then takes one of his tails and smacks her on the forehead (lightly of course).

"Ow! What was that for?" she asks indignantly.

"Because you were so engrossed with my tails that you missed the last half of the meeting!"

Kushina blushes in embarrassment.

"Sorry."

Naruto grins at her. "I didn't mind...Just so you know; Sarutobi is letting me go on a two year training trip with Kyūbi and just Kyūbi."

Kushina's visage drops at hearing that.

"But I don't want you do go," she nearly whispers.

Naruto wraps her in a hug.

"I know you don't. After talking with dad you have been a little clingy and that isn't surprising. But you need to let _me_ go and live my life. I can't stay here with you as much as I would like to live in a place that always has love and comfort. But you and I both know that I wouldn't grow in that situation, always being sheltered and protected.

"I love you and I always will. But I need to live my own life and go and see people and places and get experience, find love and have a family. I want to make you and dad proud enough to stand on the Hokage Monument and scream that 'Naruto Uzumaki is my son!'."

Naruto pauses for a moment.

"And besides, dad told me to make a lot of grandchildren for you and nothing against Haku-chan but I don't see her in that way."

Kushina can't help but laugh. She slows her laugh to a chuckle and hugs him tightly.

"Thank you for being so understanding. If it weren't for you, I would have fallen apart years ago." Kushina pulls away from Naruto. "And you had better write."

Naruto gives her the 'Nice Guy Pose'. "Of course. I'll write every month. I'm going to sign the Toad contract just to be able to communicate with you and the Old Man."

Naruto looks to Kyūbi, who is looking away into the distance deep in thought, then back Kushina.

"I have to go pack now. I'll be leaving tomorrow so don't forget to come and say goodbye."

Kushina scowls at him. "Like I would forget something this important. Why don't you come over and have dinner tonight?"

Naruto nods his head. "I'd like that. Come on Kyūbi. Back into the seal. We can't walk down the street and cause heart attacks to all the ignorant villagers now can we?"

Kyūbi huffs and goes back into the seal, causing Naruto to Shunshin away.

He lands in his apartment and summons Kiyomi again, this time in her human form.

"Nice acting by the way."

Kiyomi huffs just like before and turns away. **"Who said anything about acting? I meant what I said about weak containers. However, they didn't ask for any **_**other**_** reasons."**

Naruto grins. "I like you to Kiyomi."

Naruto doges a tail aimed at his head.

"So where are we going to first once we leave?"

Kiyomi strikes a thinking pose. **"Nowhere too far. I was thinking somewhere to the north."**

Naruto gives her a questioning look.

"Why north?"

"**Why not north is the question. It is as good a direction as any."**

**Time Skip – Next Morning**

Naruto hugs a tearful Kushina. While she accepts that he has to go and wants to, it is still hard for her to let the closest person to her go. Her baby boy is growing up so fast it is almost too much for her.

"You be safe you hear? And you write every month."

Naruto nods even as he continues to hug her.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you to Ka-chan."

Naruto lets her go and moves down the line. Naruto stops at Haku, who he gives a warm hug.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I think of you as the sister I never had. Grow strong while I'm gone and take care of my mother for me please? With me gone, she is going to be lonely and will need someone to keep her company."

Haku smiles at him and returns the hug.

"I will and truth be told, I got to some thinking and realized that I see you as a little brother. I always wanted to have siblings and now I do. And don't worry about your mother. I'll take care of her."

Naruto gives her shoulders a grateful squeeze before slowly walking past the gates. Sure others showed up like Guy, Lee, and Tenten, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen (on crutches). But he never got to know any of them for more than a quick 'by' and 'get stronger'.

He had been surprised when Ino showed up, but definitely a welcome development. She is breaking out of her fangirl and starting to get serious. Imagine his surprise when Ino openly declared that he is her rival and she will work extremely hard to one day surpass him. He had a good-natured laugh and told her to bring it on.

He grins as he takes off into the trees, leaving the sight of everyone who came to see him off.

"Hey, let's all go get something to eat. I'm starved," Kushina suggests. Several agree and head to a place that serves lunch at eight in the morning.

**Time Skip – Several Hours**

"You wanted to see me?"

Sarutobi motions for Kushina to sit across from him. When he summoned her he was surprised when she didn't use her normal antics of messing with him. When she knocked and calmly walked in, Sarutobi saw the downtrodden expression on her face.

'It took her son leaving the village on his own for her to grow up. Though I do feel sad for her. It seems Naruto's absence subdues her greatly. Understandable as he is virtually the only human contact she has had for the last fifteen years. He was her world and now that he is gone, she doesn't know what to do.'

"How are you fairing?"

Kushina reluctantly finds a seat.

"Not good. It's only been a few hours and I already miss him so much."

Sarutobi gives her a grandfatherly smile. "He does have a way of brightening the place when he is here. Things are not the same without him even though it has only been a year since your return."

Kushina nods in agreement.

"Thanks for asking but I don't think you called me for a social call as appreciated as it is."

"Yes, let's get to it. Recent events have forced me to re-evaluate my position. Let's face facts here. I'm too old to be Hokage anymore. Orochimaru would have been killed or at least defeated much faster if a younger Kage had been facing him.

"It stings my pride to know that a fifteen year old saved me, no matter who it was. But I can no longer afford to ignore my age. I am stepping down as Hokage and I would like for you to take up the reign."

Kushina has mixed feelings about his offer. She is happy that he has such faith in her but at the same time, she feels that she is robbing her son and cheating her husband.

"I'm sorry but I don't think I'm the right person for the job. It was supposed to be Minato's. And it was for the short time before Kyūbi attacked. But then Naruto came along and I could easily see him taking up the title. It feels wrong for me to take that away from him.

"Plus I don't really do paperwork, I get agitated easily, I can't sit still for long periods of time. I'm not Kage material. Minato and Naruto are but not me."

Sarutobi grimaces.

"Please reconsider. You are my first choice seeing how you are well respected, you are the strongest kunoichi of your generation, you don't back down, you are loyal. Those are very good qualifications for being a Kage."

A tear slides down her face.

"I…I can't. I'm sorry."

The old man sighs. "Very well. My only other choice is Jiraiya but he is a last resort. I can't imagine what he would have the kunoichi do to satisfy his…perverse taste." Kushina and Sarutobi share a shiver that creeps down their respective spines. "That and I do not think that he will accept the job himself."

"My answer is still the same. As much as I loathe Jiraiya's personal tastes it isn't enough for me to take the mantle just to keep him from it."

"Then I am out of options. I fear that Danzo will make a push for the position sighting that my 'weakness' has brought Konoha great hardships. Things will not go well for Konoha if he is elected Hokage."

Kushina frowns at that. The ninja world would take a turn for the worst if Danzo became Kage. Suddenly an idea springs to mind.

"Hiruzen…what about your other student?"

Sarutobi gives her a confused look. "You mean Tsunade? Why on earth would I choose her to be my successor? She hasn't so much as stepped foot inside Konoha for what…nearly twenty years? On top of that, she has no love for this village. I doubt Jiraiya could convince her to return."

Kushina smirks. "Then send me. I…I need to get away from Konoha for a while anyways."

'Maybe I can run into Naruto and help him train for a day or so and he can meet Tsunade. It would help for the next Hokage to meet him. And to top it off, Sarutobi can't say no to me leaving lest Danzo get the upper hand on the situation.'

"Very well Kushina. You may go and find her. I expect you back within a month. If it takes longer than a month, report back here for debriefing. Then you will go out again but this time with Jiraiya to assist you in your search."

**Scene Change – With Naruto**

"_**Stop here."**_

Naruto stops as Kiyomi's 'suggestion'. He has come to know that her suggestions aren't just suggestions but orders wrapped in a nice and shinny bow.

Naruto doesn't recognize where they are.

"_**We are at the Valley of the End. This is where Madara and Hashirama fought it out. The two statues are of the two of them, symbolizing their eternal struggle. It is time to summon me."**_

And Naruto does just that. Before long, Kiyomi stands in front of him.

"**Alright. Grab some lunch and then class is in session."**

Naruto's foreboding sensor is going haywire, indicating that what lies ahead is not going to be pleasant.

Six hours later, Naruto is lying in a pile of his own sweat. Kiyomi is a slave driver and exhausts even him!

First she had him work on chakra control and muscle density. She started him working on his deltoids and pectorals. How she did this is she had him plant his hands on a tree, using chakra to stick to the tree and climb up and down the trunk. That wasn't the hard part. The hard part came when she had him keep his arms straight out and use his deltoids and pecs to move him.

He did this for six hours straight until he collapsed, unable to move his arms.

"Mind telling me what use this exorcise is?" he grunts out as Kiyomi hauls him to the campsite by the neck of his shirt.

"**It strengthens your overall musculature, helps stabilize your shoulders which reduces the risk of dislocation, it allows you more power while using your Tenma, and increases the strength of your Taijutsu strikes, strengthens your lower back, and makes it harder to throw your back out while doing something strenuous."**

Naruto starts, not expecting that many benefits to a single exercise.

"Uh…thanks?"

Kiyomi just gives him a smile that screams 'you won't be thanking me tomorrow.' While he has Kiyomi's yoki to heal him, it is still going to hurt like a bitch with all the lactic acid building up in his arms.

Almost as if she can hear his thoughts (which she can), Kiyomi starts to massage his upper arms and torso. Naruto leans into her touch and looses himself to the wondrous feelings her hands are giving him. Her nimble and deceptively strong fingers work his muscles and reduces the amount of lactic acid his muscles are producing.

Not five minutes into her massage, Naruto is firmly asleep. She has to drag him and massage him for the first few days before Naruto's muscles gotten used to the intense workout.

The next exercise she had him do was like the first one, a hybrid of chakra control, conditioning, and strength building. This time Naruto had to climb the tree with his hands like last time. The only difference is that his body was completely perpendicular to the tree.

Again Kiyomi had to drag him to the camp the first couple days of this exercise too.

"**This one strengthens your core muscles: abs, obliques, butt, quads, deltoids again, most arm muscles. It also helps you retain balance, coordination, and endurance against multiple injuries."**

"But if all I'm doing is to increase muscle mass, won't I get slower?"

"**Yes but to combat this we, and by we I mean you, are going to be doing extensive exorcises designed to make your muscles longer rather than bulkier. This training will start once you have too much muscle mass like running and swimming. The result will be muscles that will be very dense but compact, something that is a must for shinobi. Also, it will be a plus since you will have a crazy amount of stamina and a very high pain threshold," **she explains before Naruto passes out again from exhaustion.

So the pattern of getting up, eating breakfast, working on strength, eating lunch, sparing with Kiyomi, work on strength some more, get dragged back to camp, eat dinner, and rest followed for a good two months. More than once has Kiyomi had to spoon feed him food just so he can eat and recover his strength properly.

Kiyomi had just started him on running around the Valley a good twenty times and making him swim against the current right near the waterfall, making the current very strong for hours on end. Suddenly a toad appears while Naruto is on his last lap and about to have lunch. The purple toad gives Naruto a scroll and then leaves without saying a word.

For some reason, the Toads do not like Naruto as a summoner. Perhaps it has to do with him having Kyūbi within him or maybe because of what happened with Gamabunta…

**Flashback – Second day after leaving Konoha**

"**Alright Naruto. I want you to summon the boss Toad so you can retain the rights to summon Toads. Just to give you a heads up, from what I know of him, Gamabunta is a crotchety old toad who likes his sake a little too much. Be polite but don't be his bitch. He doesn't like ass kissing."**

Naruto nods as Kiyomi returns to her fox form. He flashes through hand seals and bites his thumb, then slams it down on the ground.

A very large puff of smoke ensues and Naruto finds himself a hundred feet off the ground. Not liking being up this high with an unfamiliar life form, he slides down the side of the massive toad. He lands next to Kiyomi just as the smoke clears.

"**Uh…where am I? Where is Jiraiya? I will kick his ass for summoning me again."**

"Oi! Down here!"

The massive toad looks to see a fifteen year old blond and a red fox.

"**And who are you? You look and smell like Minato but he is dead. Speak before I kill you."**

Naruto shrugs. If the toad wants to play hard ball, then he is game. "And here I thought that the Toads were one of the best summons. But of the boss, who was once able to hold off a Bijū, can't even answer why I look like someone then I guess I don't want them."

Gamabunta unsheathes 'Bunta sized' tanto and points the end right at Naruto's head.

"**Give me one reason that I shouldn't kill you here and now."**

Naruto waves his hands dismissively. "You and I both know you won't kill me. My mother wouldn't think twice of kicking your ass if that happened."

Bunta raises an amused eyebrow. B

"**And who is your mother? It would take a lot and then some for me to fear a human woman."**

Naruto smirks. "But you know this woman…she was the wife of your previous summoner."

Naruto sees Gamabunta think on it for a second before realization dawns on him. His skin pales and becomes drier than Suna's desert. Bunta quickly takes the enormous tanto away from Naruto, lest something happen.

"**You're **_**her**_** and **_**his**_** child? You don't look like much."**

Naruto chuckles. "This coming from a toad who fear my mother. I just wanted to meet you as I am a new summoner. The main reason for me singing your contract is because of my father, though what forced the issue is I'm on a training trip and one of the conditions was for me to sign your contract to keep in touch with them and help keep me safe."

Bunta sighs and sheathes his tanto.

"**By all rights, I should deny you. We summons are not pets, heirlooms, or trinkets. We chose our own summoners not those rulers of yours. But out of respect for your lineage, I will allow it."**

Naruto gives Bunta a thumbs up. "Great. Hopefully I won't have to summon you any time soon so don't worry about me randomly pulling you here just idle chat."

"**Good. I hate having to drop whatever I'm doing anyways. Even more so if isn't of importance…"**

Bunta trails off, his beady eyes gazing intently at something.

Quicker than Naruto would think possible for a toad his size, Bunta has his tanto out again and swinging down. A giant cloud of smoke erupts when the tanto strikes the ground. Naruto jumps out of the cloud coughing.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

But there is no time to talk as Naruto sees the enormous toad hacking and slicing at something. Naruto thinks and the only other person he know is here is…

"Kiyomi!"

Naruto rushes over but in the smoke, he can't see a damn thing. After a minute of looking, he spots a red blur dashing between strikes of the sword.

"**Stay still you miscreant!"**

Naruto doesn't even hesitate. He jumps in front of Kiyomi, using his body as a shield. Whether he realizes it or not, his body would give the blade about as much resistance as a wind enhanced kunai through a tree, i.e. not at all.

Fortunate for him, Bunta wasn't out of control and stops the blade just before carving Naruto into halves.

"**What the hell are you doing? Do you have any idea who you are protecting?"** Bunta roars at him.

However, Naruto doesn't budge an inch.

"Of course I do. Standing behind me is my best friend, teacher, and family. Though others my know him as Kyūbi."

Bunta tries to smack Naruto away with the flat side of the blade but Naruto sidesteps it, not giving Bunta an opening.

"**Do realize that monstrosity is responsible for your father's death? That beast deserves nothing but the most painful and excruciating death imaginable."**

Naruto's eyes burn with fury. He glows red from unconsciously accessing Kyūbi's yoki that still resides within him.

"**Who the fuck do you think you are?"** he bellows. **"Have you heard the story behind **_**why**_** Kyūbi attacked? Did you try to understand her? Did you even stop to think that she wasn't to blame for this? That she is also a victim of circumstance and plotters who wish to harness her powers?**

"**I'll tell you this. There is only one responsible for that night and that person is Orochimaru."**

Naruto is breathing heavily as he attempts to calm down.

Bunta is silent for a moment. He had been completely taken aback by Naruto's outburst.

"**Whether or not **_**she**_** was the mastermind behind it or if **_**she **_**just wanted to sate **_**her**_** thirst for blood, **_**she**_** still holds responsibility for being a part of it."**

"Bull shit! That means that the victims Orochimaru kidnapped and experimented on are just as responsible as him! Responsible for what? Being at the wrong place at the wrong time? Getting caught in the first place? That logic is utter bullshit.

"Unlike you, I have heard her side and understand why she did it. You would have done the same had it happened to you."

Bunta glares at Naruto. **"I will not ally myself with the murder of a summoner. I tire of this pointless debate as it is impossible for you to see any other point of view but your own. I revoke the summoning contract on basis of being allies with a being who killed a summoner and potential sage."**

Naruto's eyes turn icy. He needs the contract one or another or his training will have to be supervised.

"You know what my mother would do to you should harm come to me if I get hurt when I could have summoned you or your kin."

Bunta's glare intensifies. **"Fine, keep the contract. However, should you call on me to save your sorry ass, I will and then beat you within an inch of your life and **_**then**_**, cancel the contract."**

Bunta dispels himself and goes back to Mount Myōboku, leaving a huffing Naruto behind. A hand on his shoulder makes him turn.

"You shouldn't have done that. I would have gladly taken…"

"No. You don't deserve that. You were justified in every way to come after Konoha. Sure you could have done things differently but that is in the past now and no point dwelling in it."

He looks into Kiyomi's eyes and she back.

"But you put your summoning contract on the line. For what? A reputation that I have? That was stupid and irrational."

Naruto shakes his head. "No, I was protecting a friend and protecting a friend is never stupid. That reputation wasn't earned and I don't blame you and I'm sure that ka-chan doesn't either. I stick up for my friends, no matter what."

He gives her a cheeky smile. "And besides, why would I want some hypocritical summon when I have the most powerful on right here who is most importantly my best friend? On the plus side, you are far easier on the eyes and he was."

Kiyomi laughs as she playfully swats his arm.

"You're a shameless flirt."

"No, I just appreciate."

Kiyomi looks down at the ground. "You know, despite what you think, that toad was right. I do have some responsibility for what happened. I could have chosen to sneak in using a human form or to even stop and think about thinks before taking off in a blind rage."

She feels Naruto wrap his arms around her in a comforting hug that she returns.

"All is forgiven. So don't be so down about it. I think that you have atoned for the small responsibility you held. I think five and a half years of solitary confinement and another ten of being stuck inside a hormonal teenager more than makes up for it."

Kiyomi chuckles slightly as she holds Naruto close. They begin to sway to some unheard music and for a while, they just hold onto each other. It isn't until Kiyomi starts to fall asleep some half hour later that they break up and Kiyomi cracks the whip and gets Naruto back to training.

**End Flashback**

Naruto shakes the cobwebs out of his head and stops so he can read the message.

_Chūnin Uzumaki Naruto,_

_You are hereby ordered to stop one Sasuke Uchiha from defecting to Oto by any means necessary but he must be brought back alive. A squad of Oto shinobi assisted in his escape as of an hour ago and is reported to be heading right for you. Their abilities and numbers are unknown.  
_

_A pursuit squad is tracking but is only just now leaving. You may be the last hope for keeping the Sharingan in Konoha. Bring the Uchiha and whatever captives you capture to Konoha when the pursuit squad reaches your position._

_Godaime Hokage,  
Tsunade Senju_

* * *

End Chapter 8

* Inside the bars, it is her domain. If she can make herself an enormous fox or a five foot four human female, then why can't she make herself so small that he can't see her or make herself invisible?

XX

Sorry it took so long to get another chapter out. I would write a little at a time over a few months but the fight took the longest. I had a hard time making something that was both satisfying and realistic. And Naruto's fight with the Nidaime is short but very intense. It is only through his Wind Armor that he not only survives but winds since the Nidaime doesn't have NinTaijutsu to use.

XX

No, Kushina will NOT be with Naruto. They are close but their relationship will stay just that. A mother and son and not more than that.

XX

Be sure to check out my other stories that I posted along side this one: Throne of Power and Return of the Sage. I couldn't get Turbulent Tides in, even though I wanted to. I'm having so many problems writing that one right now.

XX

Review, comment, ask questions, burn me to ashes, I don't care. Any and all feedback is welcome and encouraged.

Until next time,

tomhunt98


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